EAPOC VL PROJECT

NAME OF THE PROJECT:- EAPOC VL

TIME:- 2 YEARS (2022-2024)

DONOR: KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET (KI)

Since 2022, MDH has been working with Karolinska Institutet (KI) of Stockholm Sweden to implement the East African Point of Care Viral Load (EAPoC-VL) research project. The EAPOC-VL is a two-year (2022-2024) multi-country research project aimed at examining the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of using point-of-care viral load (PoC VL) monitoring to improve viral load suppression among children, adolescents, and young people aged ≤24 years living with HIV in East Africa. The project is funded by the European and Development Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) with the East Africa Consortium for Clinical Research (EACCR) serving as the implementing team.

OBJECTIVES of the EAPOC-VL are:

  1. To determine the effectiveness of PoC VL monitoring compared with standard care on viral load suppression among children, adolescents and youth living with HIV in East Africa at 6 and 12 months of follow-up.
  2. To evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of using PoC VL monitoring among children and adolescents living with HIV in East Africa.
  3. To understand the psychosocial life of children, adolescents and young people living with HIV in East Africa and how they predict adherence and viral load suppression

PARTNERS & STAKEHOLDERS:

The EAPoC VL project is an inter-continental collaboration comprising the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), the Uganda National Health Research Organisation (UNHRO), the Karolinska Institute (KI) In Tanzania, the study collaborates with the Ministry of Health (MoH), the President’s Office for Regional Authorities and Local Government (PORALG), and the Regional Health Management Teams (RHMTs) from four study districts.

 IMPLEMENTATION:

The EAPOC VL Project is divided into 7 work packages implemented across the four study countries: Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. In Tanzania, the project comprises 5 work packages (WP):

  1. Effectiveness Study (WP1)
  2. Implementing Research (WP2)
  3. Psychosocial aspects of PoC Monitoring (WP3)
  4. Training and capacity building (WP5)
  5. Community and stakeholder engagement (WP6)

These work packages are implemented by three institutions which are MDH (in collaboration with KI), NIMR and KCMC. Each institution has four study sites.

At MDH, the EAPOC-VL is implemented at Mbagala Rangi Tatu and Magomeni Hospitals (Intervention sites) as well as Bunju and Consolata Sister’s Dispensaries (control sites).

PROGRESS BY DECEMBER 2024:

In 2024, MDH set out to complete the remaining milestones of the EAPOC VL project. However, due to the delays in project inception, a no-cost project extension of 8 months was granted to 30th October 2025. Activities implemented in 2024 included:

  1. Completed follow-up of study participants in theWP1 whereby 128 participants (94%) completed the 6-month follow-up, and 123 participants (90%) completed the 12-month follow-up, out of all 136 participants enrolled. Twelve participants transferred to other clinics and 1 participant passed away.
  1. Recruited two data collectors, enrolled 116 study participants and commenced data collection on psychosocial challenges faced by children, adolescents and youth with HIV across all four study sites, for WP3.
  2. Conducted an interim study monitoring in April 2024, with monitors from Rwanda and Uganda who assessed protocol adherence and data quality.
  3. Conducted three progress review meetings and attended the project’s Annual General Meeting in Moshi in May 2024. At the meeting, partners expressed interest in designing follow-up studies, such as evaluating HIV drug resistance rates among adolescents and youth with HIV.