mHealth Tool Is Keeping Central American Clients Connected to HIV Care amid COVID-19 Shutdowns

April 01, 2020In Central America, frontline health workers are usingIntraHealth International’s mobile phone-based alerTAR system to let HIV clients know when, where, and how they can keep getting their antiretroviral therapies (ART), now that public transit and outpatient services in the region have halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.These closures and shutdowns are leaving many clients unsure about where to pick up their medications and making it difficult for them to adhere to their HIV treatment regimens. So IntraHealth’sUSAID HIV Care and Treatment Project repurposed its alerTAR system—a low-cost, CommCare-based tool that helps health workers at 26 ART clinics in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama send treatment reminders via SMS—to reach thousands of clients who may be cut off from their usual health facilities and connect them to distribution points for retrieving their lifesaving medication.Clients who receive SMS reminders are 80% more likely to reach viral suppression.“Our alerTAR system was originally designed to send appointment and medication reminders, but COVID-19 introduced new challenges for keeping people living with HIV on treatment,” says IntraHealth’s Ricardo Lopez, the Guatemala-based IT advisor on the project who upgraded alerTAR for COVID-19 response.“Because contact information for some 10,000 HIV clients was already set up in alerTAR, we have been able to quickly roll out mobile outreach to H...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Panama USAID HIV Care and Treatment Project & AIDS COVID-19 Digital Health Global health security Health Workforce Systems Community Health Workers Source Type: news