Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the provision and uptake of services for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Zimbabwe (Heys, 2023)

Elizabeth Chappell, Anesu Chimwaza, Ngoni Manika, Catherine J Wedderburn, Zivai Mupambireyi Nenguke, Hannah Gannon, Frances Cowan, Tom Gibb, Michelle Heys, Felicity Fitzgerald, Andrew Phillips, Simbarashe Chimhuya, Diana M Gibb, Deborah Ford, Angela Mushavi, Mutsa Bwakura-Dangarembizi

PLOS Global Public Health, Vol 3, Iss 8, p e0002296 (2023)

Zimbabwe is targeting elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV by December 2025, however the COVID-19 pandemic challenged health service delivery globally. Monthly aggregated data were extracted from DHIS-2 for all facilities delivering antenatal care (ANC). ZIMSTAT and Spectrum demographic estimates were used for population-level denominators. Programme indicators are among those in HIV care and population indicators reflect the total population. The mean estimated proportion of pregnant women booking for ANC per month did not change (91% pre-pandemic vs 91% during pandemic, p = 0.95), despite dropping to 47% in April 2020. At a programme-level, the estimated proportion of women who received at least one HIV test fell in April 2020 (3.6% relative reduction vs March (95% CI 2.2-5.1), p