Routine electronic mother-infant data (REMInD): a proof-of-concept data to care study to support retention in maternal HIV treatment and infant HIV testing in Cape Town, South Africa

Abstract

Data to Care (D2C) strategies– using routine data to identify and re-engage people living with HIV who are not in care– have shown promise in high-income settings but remain underexplored in lower-resource and vertical HIV transmission prevention (VTP) contexts. In this prospective, single-arm, proof-of-concept study, we used facility-linked public sector electronic medical records (Provincial Health Data Centre [PHDC] data) to identify, validate and trace postpartum VTP gaps among 336 mothers living with HIV and their infants in Cape Town, South Africa (March 2021–April 2022). Of 302 observed gaps, 123 (41%) were false, while 179 (59%) were probable gaps affecting 133 mother-infant pairs. Overall, 16% of mothers did not link to HIV care within 12 weeks postpartum and 13% had ART dispensing gaps, while 10% and 17% of infants had no HIV test around 10 weeks and six months, respectively. Only 100 (56%) probable gaps were confirmed through telephonic tracing, with 47 mothers subsequently re-linked to care. Mobility, stigma, and employment challenges contributed to disengagement. While our D2C approach streamlined tracing efforts, re-engagement remained difficult. Strategies integrating D2C approaches with interventions addressing social determinants are needed.