Care for people living with HIV: a guide and toolkit on the implementation of the viral load

HIV viral load measurement is a key monitoring tool for people living with HIV/AIDS. UNAIDS has made it the third indicator needed to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic around the world, the objective being that 90% of patients receiving antiretroviral (ARV) therapy have a permanently suppressed viral load. However, in practice, access to this measurement remains a challenge, especially in West and Central Africa.

The objective of this toolkit and guide is to share all the wealth of experience of six years of implementation of the OPP-ERA project in Burundi, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea. “To set up the HIV viral load, it is not sufficient to only choose a technical solution. It is also necessary to create the conditions for its application. This is what we wanted to give details of in these tools for all viral load stakeholders”, explains Louis Pizzarro, Executive Director of the NGO Solthis, the leader of the OPP-ERA project.

All these resources can now be a useful tool for all the other stakeholders involved in the fight against HIV and access to the viral load. For Jeanne Roussel, manager of the OPP-ERA project, “Everyone has their role to play in making quality care a reality for all people living with HIV”. “These resources are there to contribute”, she adds.

The HIV Viral Load Testing Operational Guide presents 60 lessons learned from the experience of the OPP-ERA project, combined with recommendations and implementation tips, and advocates for a systemic approach to the viral load (including the strategy, the laboratory, supply, patient care and economics) to make sustainable access to the viral load and its actual use a reality for the greatest possible number of patients.

Download the HIV Viral Load Testing Operational Guide

The HIV-1 Viral Load Toolkit includes 90 practical tools for the implementation of the viral load, for laboratories (setting up, sample processing and analysis, biosecurity), supply (quantification, purchasing, transport, storage and maintenance), the collection of samples, data management, patient care and the national strategy.

Consult the toolkit: toolkit-chargevirale-oppera.solthis.org

Financed by UNITAID, the OPP-ERA project has been implemented by Solthis, the leader and responsible for implementation in Guinea; Expertise France, responsible for implementation in Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon; Sidaction, responsible for implementation in Burundi; and ANRS, responsible for the scientific leadership and the promotion of the results.

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