Beyond drug treatment: a cross-sectional assessment of palliative care services for people living with HIV/AIDS at public health facilities, Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: palliative care offers a care and support system to people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). In Nigeria, the palliative care (PC) practice generally is new and still developing. While most studies on HIV/AIDS assess drug treatment and adherence for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), there is paucity of data on PC services available for them. We therefore assessed the PC services offered and referral services available to PLWHA in health facilities.

Methods: we conducted a cross-sectional study across all public secondary and tertiary health facilities offering HIV care services in Abuja, Nigeria between February and May 2017. We used an interviewer-administered semi-structure questionnaire to collect information from the heads of health facilities. The questionnaire assessed palliative care and referral services for PLWHA. Frequencies and proportions were calculated using Microsoft-Excel.

Results: of the 17 health facilities assessed, only 6 (35.3%) have constituted a palliative care team but only 3 (17.6%) had some sources of fund for PC. Twelve (70.6%) provided nutritional support for PLWHA, 6 (35.3%) provided spiritual and 8 (47.1%) offered bereavement support for families of PLWHA. Sixteen (94.1%) had well-established referral services for PLWHA.

Conclusion: palliative care services for PLWHA were generally poor in all the health facilities. There exists a well-established referral services for PLWHA in most of the health facilities. We recommend that the PC structure for PLWHA should be improved by increasing and ensuring compliance to guidelines and the established referral network should continue to be strengthened.