Background: KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) is the province with the highest HIV prevalence in South Africa (SA). Community Health Workers (CHWs) are key to delivery of HIV services at community level. Evidence on knowledge and perceptions of people living with HIV (PLWH) regarding the HIV services that are offered by the CHWs is limited. Therefore, this study seeks to determine knowledge and perceptions of PLWH regarding the HIV services that are offered by the CHWs in KZN.Methods: The study design was a quantitative survey using an administrator-administered questionnaire. A total of 303 PLWH from 3 selected KZN clinics were interviewed to determine their knowledge and perceptions of HIV services offered by the CHWs. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27 was used to describe the population and testing for associations between variables. The significant level was set at a p value ≤ 0.05 and at 95% confidence internal.Results: Among the 303 PLWH surveyed, 24 (8%), knew about the HIV services offered by the CHWs and of the 89 (29%) participants that were visited by CHWs, 73 (82%) had a positive perception about these services. Participants who were visited by a CHW were more likely (OR=1.57, 95% CI: 0.57-4.35) to know about the HIV services. Knowledge of HIV services was significantly associated with the positive perception of the HIV services (p<0.05). Knowledge and perception of the HIV services was not associated with age, gender, level of education or duration of visiting the clinic.Conclusion: The majority of PLWH in KZN have poor knowledge of HIV services offered by the CHWs and most of them have never been visited by a CHW in their homes. Those that were visited by CHWs were more likely to have positive perceptions regarding their HIV services. The findings of the study should trigger the scaling up of HIV community targeted initiatives that are delivered by CHWs in order to curb the HIV epidemic in the province.

IntroductionIn sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Community healthcare workers (CHWs) worldwide have been reported to be effective in strengthening the HIV programme by providing services such as adherence support, HIV education and safe sex education as part of their roles. The main aim of this meta-synthesis is to synthesise qualitative evidence on studies that have been conducted in SSA countries to understand the barriers to and facilitators of providing HIV services by CHWs across all settingsMethods and analysisThis meta-synthesis will be guided by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. An initial search was conducted on 15 November 2019 for studies published between 2009 and 2019 using the population exposure outcome nomenclature. We searched the EBSCOHost- (ERIC; Health Source-Nursing/Academic Edition), Google Scholar and PubMed databases for the relevant studies. The Ritchie and Spencer framework will be used for data synthesis and the Supporting the Use of Research Evidence Framework analysis will be used to analyse data. We will conduct critical appraisal on selected studies using the Qualitative Assessment and Review Instrument to limit risk of bias.Ethics and disseminationThis review does not involve any human participants and therefore ethical approval will not be required. We will publish the protocol as well as the findings in any relevant journal and various media namely conferences; symposia, local and international health stakeholders.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42020160012.ConclusionEvidence from this review will provide synthesised evidence to the utilisation of CHWs in HIV services in SSA.

ObjectivesTo synthesise qualitative studies that address the barriers to and facilitators of providing HIV services by community health workers (CHWs) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).DesignThis meta-synthesis was guided by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. We included studies that were published between 2009 and 2019. The Ritchie and Spencer framework and the Supporting the Use of Research Evidence framework were used for thematic analysis and framework analysis, respectively. The Qualitative Assessment and Review Instrument was used to assess the quality of selected studies.Eligibility criteriaQualitative studies published between 2009 and 2019, that included CHWs linked directly or indirectly to the Ministry of Health and providing HIV services in the communities.Information sourcesAn extensive search was conducted on the following databases: EBSCOhost- (ERIC; Health Source-Nursing/Academic Edition; MEDLINE Full Text), Google Scholar and PubMed.ResultsBarriers to rendering of HIV services by CHWs were community HIV stigma; lack of CHW respect, CHWs’ poor education and training; poor stakeholders’ involvement; poor access to the communities; shortage of CHWs; unsatisfactory incentives; lack of CHW support and supervision, lack of equipment and supplies and social barriers due to culture, language and political structures. The altruistic behaviour of CHWs and the availability of job facilitated the provision of HIV services.ConclusionThe delivery of HIV services by CHWs in SSA is faced by more lingering barriers than facilitators. Planners and policymakers can minimise the barriers by investing in both CHW and community training regarding HIV services. Furthermore, sufficient funding should be allocated to the programme to ensure its efficiency.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42020160012.

The ward-based PHC outreach team comprises six to ten community health workers, one data capturer and one outreach team leader (South African National Department of Health, 2018). The CHWs -a key component of the ward-based PHC outreach team stream -are supervised by an outreach team leader (OTL) and act as a link between communities and the health system (Assegaai & Schneider, 2019; South African National Department of Health, 2018). In KwaZulu-Natal province (KZN), community health workers (CHW) are sometimes referred to as community caregivers Mottiar & Lodge, 2018). In KZN, the CHW model started in the early 1940s with the Pholela Health Centre as the forerunner (Tollman, 1994). In the early 2000s, evidence mounted on the important role that CHW play in supporting home-based care and PHC (Dageid et al., 2016). The roles of CHW have been expanded as a strategy to strengthen HIV health care services and provide longitudinal patient support in KZN (Kubheka et al., 2020;Loeliger et al., 2016aLoeliger et al., , 2016b. Community HIV interventions by CHWs have been seen as an important predictor of HIV treatment success (Daviaud et al., 2018) and these interventions include linking people living with HIV (PLWH) to health care, promoting ART adherence and improving retention in care (

Background The South African Ward Based Primary Health Care Outreach Team (WBPHCOT) policy framework states that the distribution of community health workers (CHWs) should be proportional to levels of poverty and disease within the population. We aimed to describe the spatial distribution of CHWs in relation to the prevalence of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) which has itself been associated with poverty in previous studies. Methods This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study in which secondary data was used for geospatial analysis. Based on the extrapolation from the norm of one WBPHCOT per 6000 individuals, we utilized geographic information system (GIS) methods to visualize the distribution of CHWs in relation to the prevalence of HIV in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). Dot density mapping was used to visualize the random distribution of CHWs in relation to HIV prevalence and population in the districts. The districts’ HIV prevalence, number of PLWH, ratio of CHW: people living with HIV (PLWH), ratio of CHW: population and poverty scores were mapped using choropleth mapping. MapInfo Pro 17.0 was used to map geospatial presentation of the data. Results Overall, KZN province showed under allocation of CHWs with a CHW: people ratio of 1: 1156 compared to the estimated norm of 1: 600–1000. At district level, only two of 11 districts met the suggested norm of CHW: PLWH (1: 109–181). This indicates shortages and misallocation of CHWs in the nine remaining districts. Furthermore, our findings showed extensive geospatial heterogeneity with no clear pattern in the distribution of CHWs. There was no relationship between CHW distribution and HIV prevalence or poverty scores in the districts. Conclusion This study shows inequality in the distribution of CHWs which may be associated with inequalities in the provision of HIV related services. It is critical to strengthen the response to the HIV epidemic through the appropriate distribution of CHWs especially in those districts with high levels of HIV prevalence and poverty.