WCDHW People Development Centre Online School

The following topics are covered in this course:

1. Basics of HIV

• Definition and description of HIV
• History of HIV
• Epidemiology of HIV
• Transmission of HIV

2. Theory of HIV infection and ART

• HIV infection of the cell
• Natural progression of HIV (WHO stages)
• Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART)
  • Reverse transcriptase inhibitors
  • Integrase inhibitors
  • Protease inhibitors
  • Capsid inhibitors

3. HIV prevention

• Behavioural interventions to prevent HIV
• Medical interventions to prevent HIV
  • Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)
  • Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP)
  • Treatment as prevention (TasP)
  • Other medical interventions to prevent HIV
• Stigma and discrimination

4. HIV routine care

• Communicating a new diagnosis of HIV
• HIV routine care at diagnosis & follow-up visits
• TB Preventive Treatment (TPT)
• ART initiation
  • Medication interactions with DTG
  • Side effects of TLD
• Managing an unsuppressed viral load
  • ABCDE approach
  • Supporting the client taking long-term medication
  • Enhanced Adherence Counselling (EAC)

5. Opportunistic infections in HIV

• Respiratory system OIs (TB, PJP)
• Central nervous system OIs 
• Gastro-intestinal OIs
• Dermatological OIs

6. HIV and TB coinfection

• Communicating with a client returning to care after disengaging
• Tuberculosis (TB): in clients living with HIV
  • Close contacts
  • Targeted Universal TB testing (TUTT)
  • TB infection prevention and control
  • Urine LAM
  • HIV/TB coinfection
• HIV routine care
  • WHO stage for clients with TB
  • Support the client taking long-term medication
  • Reasons to delay initiation of ART
  • Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome (IRIS)
  • ART medication interactions with TB treatment

7. HIV and women's health 

• Preconception care for couples with HIV
• Cervical screen policy changes
• Contraception for the client with HIV
• Prevention of vertical transmission of HIV (VL monitoring during pregnancy)
• Dolutegravir and pregnancy
  • Antenatal supplementation dosing options 
  • Medication interaction with metformin and antacids
• Management of the client with HIV in labour and delivery
• Management of the postnatal client with HIV
  • Integration of services with EPI schedule
  • Infant post-exposure prophylaxis
  • Infant feeding (breastfeeding and formula)

8. Special circumstances in HIV management: 

• Case 1:
  • Urgent signs in a client with HIV
  • Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome
  • When to start/restart ART
  • Kaposi sarcoma
• Case 2:
  • Management of unsuppressed viral load
  • Resistance testing
  • Primary vs secondary resistance
  • Virological failure - TLD1 vs TLD2
• Case 3:
  • Renal impairment and ART
  • Hepatitis B coinfection
  • Switching to TAF

9. Monitoring and evaluation: 

• Documentation and reporting
• Data collection tools
• Adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting
• Challenges in recording and reporting