HIV Indicator Diseases in Hospital and Primary Care

Patients are frequently evaluated by physicians for medical work-up of HIV indicator conditions in hospital and in primary care at the general practitioner. Testing for HIV is indicated with HIV indicator disorder but often omitted in clinical work-up. Besides the fact that HIV testing is forgotten, there are other reasons such as an underestimation of the risk of HIV in the event of indicator disorders, stigma and difficulties in discussing the test with a patient. Also and more relevant for primary care than for the hospital, practical challenges can exist for a patient to go to a laboratory, or costs are a hurdle.

This project focuses on improving HIV indicator condition driven testing in different settings of the HIV epidemic, initially in the Netherlands as low HIV prevalence setting followed by an assessment of its benefit in different international settings. A specific focus will also be on the Rotterdam area in the Netherlands which has a high prevalence of undiagnosed HIV in the Netherlands. The ultimate aim is to decrease the number of undiagnosed HIV in populations, improve the 90-90-90 HIV cascade of care goals particularly its first pillar, and to help supporting the UNAIDS goal to end HIV/AIDS