Community-Based Model for Delivery of Antiretroviral Therapy in Cambodia

One of the challenges in the Cambodian HIV response is the relatively low rate of retention in care and viral load suppression among people living with HIV on ART. According to a report from the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STD (NCHADS), by the end of September 2017, approximately 98% (n= 58,268) of people living with HIV diagnosed in the whole country were initiated on ART. Of them, 75% were virally suppressed, and 89% were retained on the treatment 12 months after the treatment initiation. Similarly, a recent study conducted by KHANA Center for Population Research in 11 ART clinics across the country found that the rate of viral suppression among adolescents living with HIV aged 15-17 was 76.8%.

To date, ART in Cambodia has been administered only at the government ART clinics. Nationally, there are 66 ART Clinics in 22 of the 25 provinces. Making a trip to an ART clinic on a monthly or bimonthly basis to receive repeated prescriptions poses a heavy burden on the clients in terms of both time and money. Besides, as the Global Fund Funding Request points out (pp.7-8), besides self-stigma, people living with HIV and key populations continue to face stigma and discrimination in their communities, in accessing health and other services, and at the household level. Furthermore, under the current scheme, the necessity for the ART clinics to meet the demand of all of the ART clients, including the stable clients who visit bi-monthly, is a huge burden on the facilities and the service providers. Fewer client visits per given timeframe are expected to help the health workers spend more time per visiting client and improve the service quality.

Community-based service delivery has been an integral part of the response to HIV in other parts of the world. Cambodia's national HIV program acknowledges the major contribution of such an approach, including the proposed CAD model. In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that stable ART clients can safely reduce the frequency of clinic visits, potentially receiving ART in community settings. Researches from other contexts have also suggested that communities can be engaged to provide ART with good outcomes. Most CAD models have been demonstrated to reduce burdens for patients and the health systems, increased retention in care, and lower service provider costs. KHANA and its partners, including NCHADS, believe that an adaptation of an ART delivery model that meaningfully includes community-based services will be essential, particularly as the national program intensifies case-finding and the "Treat All" approach, to meet the national targets.

KHANA has been a leader of the country's community-led HIV response and was one of the key members in developing the "Consolidated Operational Framework on Community Action Approach to Implement B-IACM towards achieving 90-90-90 in Cambodia (Community Action Framework)" of NCHADS. For the past 20 years, KHANA has supported the capacity building of the HIV-affected communities, who now bring invaluable contributions to the design of the HIV response in Cambodia. The Community Action Framework aims to ensure the continued participation of the communities, thus strengthening the health system and empowering the HIV-affected communities. The current Global Fund-supported project applies this framework to detect undiagnosed people living with HIV by promoting HIV testing and counseling in the communities and improve the HIV care cascade. KHANA sees an opportunity to extend this framework's application in the form of CAD with the support of the 5% Initiative.

The Community Action Framework has a section on CAD; however, there is a need to operationalize this model and demonstrating its applicability in the Cambodian context. The proposed project will develop a CAD model considering the evidence and findings of previous studies, the Cambodian local context, and the principles set by the national HIV program. As an operational research project, it will be implemented to reach approximately 2,000 people living with HIV who are categorized as 'stable' (on ART for 12 months or more, clinically stable, undetectable viral load) in nine selected ART clinics, five urban and four rural, in the five provinces. In total, 82 community-based ART groups will be established, with approximately 25 members in each group. The designated CAW will coordinate the groups with technical support from five project assistants, one per province.

In the architecture of the current Global Fund-supported project, the Community-Based Prevention, Care and Support (CBPCS) are implemented for people living with HIV in greatest needs and other target populations by civil society organization (CSO) workers at the ART clinics; i.e., Community Action Counsellors (CAC), Facility-Based Workers (FBW) and CAW. They will contribute to the daily facility activities and perform outreach work as needed. CAWs are assigned to 37 ART sites, and their responsibilities will include: a) provision of case management and support for people living with HIV in greatest needs (e.g., people living with HIV who are newly enrolled in ART, pregnant women, children under five years and adolescents) to improve drug adherence, missed appointment issues or treatment failure and b) being in contact with Village Health Support Groups (VHSG) to encourage HIV testing and counseling and trace new cases. The administration of CAD fits well in the function of CAW.

The project is strategized around three key areas as follows:

1. Bringing ART closer to the people living with HIV This innovative CAD model's main concept is that the community-based ART provision brings the treatment to come closer to people living with HIV. It is made possible by CAW who bring pre-packed ARV refill and various support services to the members of Community ART Groups. A technology-based tool using tablets will be introduced to the CAW as educational materials and monitoring tools. Accessibility of ARV distribution points is crucial to the success of this scheme. Therefore, the distribution points will be located at the monthly meeting sites of the local self-help groups. Stable ART clients who are members of the scheme will visit the designated ART clinic for consultation and viral load monitoring every six months. The project will also work to reactivate the existing savings initiative within such self-help groups to contribute to such community groups' sustainability. Linkages with the designated ART clinics will be strengthened through capacity-building activities, coaching, and mentoring. Training will be provided to the relevant ART clinic staff members on the new CAD model's overall objectives and on the roles they will play in the project implementation. Gender, age, and populations are parameters that are expected to determine the effectiveness of the model significantly. The project will have mixed-gender groups and population-specific groups (e.g., male, female, transgender women, men who have sex with men). The project design will also consider the special needs of different population groups such as female entertainment workers (FEWs) and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) more broadly.
2. Evaluation, documentation, and dissemination of the project findings and lessons learned

The project will provide an opportunity to generate various program findings, evidence and lessons learned, which will be documented and disseminated through:

• Routine data collection for project monitoring and harmonization with/integration into the B-IACM approach and national ART database system.
• Case study documentation per site and comparative analyses.
• Presentations at national HIV/AIDS Technical Working Group meetings to support knowledge sharing and replication of the model.
• Dissemination of the findings nationally to the Ministry of Health and other national and international stakeholders to inform evidence-based policy dialogues.
• Presentations at national, regional, and international scientific conferences.
• Operational reports and international peer-reviewed publications.