Namibia has a strong foundation for implementing the treat all guidelines and reaching the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets

In late 2015, the World Health Organization announced new treatment guidelines recommending that anyone who has tested positive for HIV should begin antiretroviral therapy (ART) as soon as possible. In light of this policy, the Government of Namibia included “treat all” in the 2016 National Guidelines for ART, and began nation-wide implementation in April 2017. Project SOAR is generating evidence on how the national rollout of the treat all guidelines and decentralization of ART services affect client-level treatment outcomes, quality of ART services, and treatment costs in Namibia.

Brief highlights baseline findings that provide a snapshot of ART services delivered by health facilities in northern Namibia during the year prior to the rollout of the treat all guidelines. We also examine ART service outcomes, including 12-month ART patient retention, viral load (VL) testing, and viral suppression, to determine the effects of service decentralization during the year preceding the national roll-out of Namibia’s treat all recommendations.