Jacqueline Wille

The Government of Malawi’s Health Sector Strategic Plan II highlights the importance of service integration; however, in practice, this has not been fully realized. We conducted a mixed methods evaluation of efforts to systematically implement integrated family planning and immunization services in all health facilities and associated community sites in Ntchisi and Dowa districts during June 2016–September 2017. Methods included secondary analysis of service statistics (pre- and postintervention), focus group discussions with mothers and fathers of children under age one, and in-depth interviews with service providers, supervisors, and managers. Results indicate statistically significant increases in family planning users and shifts in use of family planning services from health facilities to community sites. The intervention had no effect on immunization doses administered or dropout rates. According to mothers and fathers, benefits of service integration included time savings, convenience, and improved understanding of services. Provision and use of integrated services were affected by availability of human resources and commodities, community linkages, data collection procedures and availability, sociocultural barriers, organization of services, and supervision and commitment of health surveillance assistants. The integration approach was perceived to be feasible and beneficial by clients and providers.

Background: Women living with HIV have the right to choose whether, when and how many children to have. Access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and contraceptives, including implants, continues to increase in Kenya. Studies have reported drug-drug interactions leading to contraceptive failures among implant users on ART. This retrospective record review aimed to determine unintentional pregnancy rates among women 15-49 years of age, living with HIV and concurrently using implants and ART in western Kenya between 2011 and 2015. Methods: We reviewed charts of women with more than three months of concurrent implant and ART use. Implant failure was defined as implant removal due to pregnancy or birth after implant placement, but prior to scheduled removal date. The incidence of contraceptive failure was calculated by woman-years at risk, assuming a constant rate. Results: Data from 1,152 charts were abstracted, resulting in 1,190 implant and ART combinations. We identified 115 pregnancies, yielding a pregnancy incidence rate of 6.32 (5.27–7.59), with 9.26 among ETG and 4.74 among LNG implant users, respectively. Pregnancy incidence rates did not differ between EFV- and NVP-based regimens (IRR=1.00, CI: 0.71-1.43). No pregnancies were recorded among women on PI-based regimens, whereas pregnancy rates for efavirenz and nevirapine-containing regimens were similar, at 6.41 (4.70–8.73) and 6.44 (5.13–8.07), respectively. Pregnancy rates also differed significantly by implant type, with LNG implant users half as likely to experience pregnancy as ETG implant users (0.51, CI: 0.33-0.79, p>0.01). Conclusions: Our findings highlight the implications of drug-drug interaction on women’s choices for contraception.

Background: Women living with HIV have the right to choose whether, when and how many children to have. Access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and contraceptives, including implants, continues to increase due to a multitude of efforts. In Kenya, 4.8% of adults are living with HIV, and in 2017, 54% were receiving an efavirenz-based ART regimen. Meanwhile, 16.1% of all Kenyan married (and 10.4% of unmarried) women used implants. Studies have reported drug interactions leading to contraceptive failures among implant users on ART. This retrospective record review aimed to determine unintentional pregnancy rates among women 15-49 years of age, living with HIV and concurrently using implants and ART in western Kenya between 2011 and 2015. Methods: We reviewed charts of women with more than three months of concurrent implant and ART use. Implant failure was defined as implant removal due to pregnancy or birth after implant placement, but prior to scheduled removal date. The incidence of unintended pregnancy was calculated by woman-years at risk, assuming a constant rate. Results: Data from 1,152 charts were abstracted, resulting in 1,190 implant and ART combinations. We identified 115 pregnancies, yielding a pregnancy incidence rate of 6.32 (5.27–7.59), with 9.26 among ETG and 4.74 among LNG implant users, respectively. No pregnancies were recorded among women on non-NNRTI-based regimens, whereas pregnancy rates for efavirenz and nevirapine-containing regimens were similar, at 6.41 (4.70–8.73) and 6.44 (5.13–8.07), respectively. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the implications of drug interaction on women’s choices for contraception.