From December 2005 to April 2007, we enrolled 60 adults starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) in a health district of Lima, Peru to receive community-based accompaniment with supervised antiretroviral (CASA). Paid community health workers performed twice-daily home visits to directly observe ART and offered additional medical, social and economic support to CASA participants. We matched 60 controls from a neighboring district by age, CD4 and primary referral criteria (TB status, female, neither). Using validated instruments at baseline and 12 months (time of DOT-HAART completion) we measured depression, social support, quality of life, HIV-related stigma and self-efficacy. We compared 12 month clinical and psychosocial outcomes among CASA versus control groups. CASA participants experienced better clinical and psychosocial outcomes at 12 months, including proportion with virologic suppression, increase in social support and reduction in HIV-associated stigma.

In our cohort of HIV-positive women in Lima, Peru, poverty and socioeconomic vulnerability contributed to depression. Findings highlight the heavy burden of depression in this cohort of poor women and the need to incorporate mental health services as an integral component of HIV care.

From December 2005 through August 2008, we provided community-based accompaniment with supervised antiretroviral therapy (CASA) to impoverished individuals starting highly active antiretroviral therapy. Adherence support was provided for 18 months by a community-based team comprised of several nurses and two types of community health workers: field supervisors and directly observed therapy (DOT) volunteers. To complement our quantitative data collection in 2008 using purposive sampling, we conducted two gender-mixed focus group discussions with 13 CASA patient participants and 13 DOT volunteers from Lima, Peru to identify the mediating mechanisms by which CASA improved well-being, and to understand the benefits of the intervention, as perceived by these individuals. Using standard qualitative methods for the review and analysis of transcripts and interview notes, we identified central themes and developed a coding scheme for categorising participants' statements. Two individuals blinded to each other's coding, coded interview transcripts for theme and content from which a third reviewer compared their coding to arbitrate discrepancies. Additional domains were added if necessary and all domains were integrated into a theoretical scheme. Among the forms of support delivered by the CASA team, DOT volunteers reported emotional support, instrumental support, directly observed therapy, building trust, education, advocacy, exercise of moral authority and preparation for transition off CASA support. CASA participants described outcomes of improved adherence, ability to resume social roles, increased self-efficacy, hopefulness, changes in non-HIV-related behaviour, reduced internalised and externalised stigma, as well as ability to disclose. Both sets of focus group participants highlighted remaining challenges after completion of CASA support: stigma in the community, difficulties achieving economic recovery and persistent barriers to health services. Based on our prior quantitative and qualitative outcomes reported here, we argue that DOT of highly active antiretroviral therapy could be designed to optimise psychosocial recovery during the period of DOT.

In the authors' urban cohort of HIV-TB coinfected individuals in Lima, Peru, substance use, depression, and lack of social support were key barriers to adherence. These findings suggest that adherence interventions may be unsuccessful unless they target the underlying psychosocial challenges faced by patients living with TB and AIDS.

Background Active tuberculosis (TB) must be excluded before initiating isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) in HIV-infected persons, but currently used screening strategies suffer from poor sensitivity and specificity and high patient attrition rates. Liquid TB culture is now recommended for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in TB suspects. This study compared the efficacy, effectiveness and speed of the microscopic-observation drug-susceptibility (MODS) assay with currently used strategies for tuberculosis screening prior to IPT in HIV-infected persons. Methods 471 HIV-infected IPT candidates at three hospitals in Lima, Peru, were enrolled into a prospective comparison of tuberculosis screening strategies, including laboratory, clinical and radiographic assessments. Results Of 435 patients who provided two sputum samples, M. tuberculosis was detected in 27 (6.2%) by MODS, 22 (5.1%) by Lowenstein-Jensen culture and 7 (1.6%) by smear. Of patients with any positive microbiological test, a MODS culture was positive in 96% by 14 days and 100% by 21 days. MODS simultaneously detected multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in two patients. Screening strategies involving combinations of clinical assessment, chest radiograph and sputum smear were less effective than two liquid TB cultures in accurately diagnosing and excluding tuberculosis (p<0.01). Screening strategies that included non-culture tests had poor sensitivity and specificity. Conclusions MODS identified, and reliably excluded, cases of pulmonary tuberculosis more accurately than other screening strategies, while providing results significantly faster than Lowenstein-Jensen culture. The streamlining of TB rule-out through the use of liquid culture-based strategies could help facilitate the massive upscaling of IPT required to reduce HIV and TB morbidity and mortality.