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I-TECH

Improving HIV Care and Treatment across the Caribbean

Post categories: Best Practices Caribbean Clinical Mentoring Differentiated Care eLearning/Distance Learning HIV Care and Treatment Key Populations Quality Improvement
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I-TECH supports a variety of activities aimed at improving HIV care and treatment in the Caribbean region, such as on-site clinical mentoring, development of training curricula, and providing clinical support materials to improve care and treatment for HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean region.

Recent efforts have focused on:

  • Clinical Mentoring: The I-TECH clinical mentoring program serves to support the provision of quality treatment and care and to improve the comprehensive care of key populations through the provision of on-site mentoring of less experienced clinicians by an experienced HIV clinician. Through the modeling of best practices and the iterative development of content knowledge, the clinical mentoring program equips clinicians to deliver consistent quality care, which enables them to better identify and manage the challenges to antiretroviral therapy (ART) service delivery at treatment sites.
  • Viral Load Suppression: I-TECH developed a viral load (VL) suppression intervention in late 2017 in collaboration with treatment sites in Jamaica to rapidly and efficiently ensure an increase in viral suppression of patients through a focus on enhanced case management and a patient centered approach. It also aims to determine the most common reasons ART fails. The intervention rapidly identifies patients failing ART through rigorous VL monitoring and a team member who tracks and supports their progress.
  • Behavioral Health and Substance Use Disorder: I-TECH has identified behavioral health and substance use disorders as major barriers to medication adherence and retention in care, and thus to viral suppression. I-TECH conducted a mental health and substance use assessment at HIV care and treatment facilities between August and October 2018, has adapted the mhGAP training package to incorporate HIV-specific content, and has collaborated with the Pan American Health Organization and the Ministry of Health to deliver the MhGAP training to healthcare providers. Additionally, I-TECH is training healthcare workers on the concept of trauma-informed care and will provide on-site technical assistance to assist them in incorporating this approach starting in October 2019.
  • Continuous Quality Improvement: Since 2013, I-TECH has led quality improvement (QI) collaboratives in the Caribbean region, enabling multidisciplinary teams at health facilities to work toward a common goal of improving care and treatment for HIV-positive patients.