Health facility-based interventions and the uptake of contraception among people living with HIV: A systematic review & meta-analysis

Abstract

Background & objectives: The prong 2 of 4 prong strategy introduced by the World Health Organization aims at averting unintended pregnancies among people living with HIV (PLHIV). This systematic review aimed to generate evidence on the effectuality of facility-based interventions in improving uptake of modern and dual contraception, for reducing unmet family planning (FP) needs and unintended pregnancies among PLHIV. Methods: Articles evaluating facility-based interventions to integrate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and FP published in English language were included. Eligible studies were identified from electronic and lateral search from three databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library and Web of Science) and grey literature. HIV care with no/minimal focus on FP was considered a comparator. Quality was assessed using design-appropriate tools. Descriptive analysis was presented in tables. Uptake of dual methods, unmet FP needs and unintended pregnancies were included in the meta-analysis to estimate pooled odds ratio (OR) with random effect model, P and I 2 values. Results: The search yielded 2112 results. After excluding duplicates and unfit articles, 17 were found eligible for review and nine for meta-analysis. The pooled OR for uptake of dual contraception was 1.69 (1.14, 2.5) (P=0.008; I 2=90%), for unmet FP needs was 0.58 (0487, 0.69) (P<0.00001; I 2=0%) and for unintended pregnancies was 0.6 (0.32, 1.1) (P=0.1, I 2=38%). Interpretation & conclusions: The results of this meta-analysis suggest that health facility-based interventions to integrate HIV and FP services do result in improved uptake of dual methods and reduce unmet need for contraception along with a protective trend on incidence of unintended pregnancies. Such facility-based integration would ensure universal access to effective contraception and facilitate in achieving Sustainable Development Goals that aim at ending epidemics like HIV.