ICAP at Columbia University (ICAP) has been a steadfast partner to the Republic of South Sudan (RSS) in its national HIV response. ICAP has delivered transformative interventions, expanding differentiated service delivery models, strengthening community-clinic linkages, and improving access to HIV prevention, C&T for hard-to-reach populations. ICAP’s support is yielding significant results: over 1.23 million people received HIV testing services (including 182,455 pregnant women and over 6,000 children); over 45,500 newly identified people living with HIV (PLHIV) initiated ART; over 35,700 PLHIV receive ART through ICAP-supported services and 72% were virally suppressed, in the last 12 months. Additionally, 97% of children at ICAP-supported facilities on optimized ART regimens. ICAP trained 3,247 healthcare workers, supported the first-ever international laboratory accreditation in RSS, and expanded viral load collection to the community point-of-care early infant diagnosis testing to 23 health facilities, enhancing access to HIV testing and C&T services.
Under the proposed project, ICAP will work with RSS government entities, community-based organizations and implementing partners to provide comprehensive, cost-effective technical support to RSS MOH to accelerate progress towards HIV epidemic control through the scale-up of innovative, evidence-based service delivery approaches that ensure widespread access to holistic, person-centered services while assuring continuity of care during times of crisis. ICAP will continue to develop and support a sustainable health workforce and strengthen data systems for program monitoring and oversight at the community, county, state, and national levels.
Short-term outcomes include increased HIV case identification and yield in facilities and communities and linkage to ART; increased ART uptake, continuity in treatment, and virologic suppression; increased EID coverage, VL coverage and suppression, ART coverage of infected infants, and pregnant and breastfeeding women (PBFW) with HIV; increased healthcare workforce knowledge and capacity; improved clinical mentor and service quality assurance at health facility and community levels; increased community-led engagement and person-centered service delivery; increased availability, utilization & integration of high-quality HIV program data; and increased access to and coverage of TB/HIV-related diagnostics and treatment monitoring. Intermediate outcomes include increase volume of newly identified HIV positives, linkage, and early ART initiation; increase ART and treatment monitoring access and coverage across facilities and communities; decrease mother-to-child transmission of HIV; improve retention, VL coverage, VL suppression among HIV-positive PBFW and HIV-infected infants; increase community-based index testing, risk referral networks, and enhanced peer network approaches to increase community awareness, patient treatment literacy, and ART refills; increase use of QI approaches at supported sites; improved routine reported monthly data available in DHIS2; and increase EID, VL monitoring, and TB diagnostic coverage, timely results return and use among all eligible populations. Long-term outcomes include increase identification and early ART for undiagnosed recipients of care; decrease HIV incidence and HIV-related morbidity and mortality among all populations; increase coverage and access to HF and community TB/HIV services; increase provision of HIV prevention, C&T services by community-based organizations; and increase national HIV/TB program data-driven planning, coordination & monitoring capacity.
