Pediatric Enhanced Surveillance Study

The Pediatric Enhanced Surveillance Study is a three part study of HIV-infected infants and children in South Africa to examine, clinical, immunologic, virologic, metabolic, psychosocial and behavioral outcomes. This study has two parts: (1) comprehensive de-identified records review of all HIV-infected children enrolled in at the pediatric Wellness and ART clinics at the five study sites; and (2) a prospective cohort surveillance study with active consented enrollment with 12-24 months of follow-up. As part of the prospective cohort, the study will aim to collect outcomes on children lost to follow-up, including causes of death through review of death certificates in the clinical chart and through verbal autopsy reports. The study will provide insights into overall outcomes for the larger pediatric patient populations in the province and South Africa. This work is designed in collaboration with the provincial health authorities of the Eastern Cape Department of Health (EC), The International Center for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP) South Africa and Center of Disease Control (CDC)-South Africa in support of the South African National ART Program for Children and aims to collect and analyze accurate, relevant and useful information that will be available on children seen at facilities. For the prospective cohort study, we will aim to enroll 400 children newly initiated on ART at 5 health facilities in the Eastern Cape of South Africa who will be actively followed for up to 24 months.

South Africa is one of the countries hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. There are more than 5 million people living with HIV in South Africa, including 280,000 children under the age of 15. Most HIV positive children acquire infection through mother-to-child transmission; in South Africa 29.3% of pregnant women attending antenatal services are HIV-infected. Furthermore, it is estimated that HIV is the cause of 35% of all deaths in children under five in South Africa. The South African government began a national rollout of HIV treatment for adults and children in 2003. As of 2007, an estimated 32,060 children under the age of 15 were receiving antiretroviral therapy (roughly 30% of those in need). There is an urgent need to obtain more comprehensive, in-depth, profiles of children enrolled in HIV care with a focus on documenting outcomes, particularly timing and causes of death, reasons for loss to follow-up, timing and frequency of treatment failure, adverse events, metabolic complications and psychosocial aspects of HIV disease.