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ABSTRACT
Introduction
The successful roll out of the antiretroviral therapy (ART) has since changed the prognosis for children and adolescents living with HIV. Consequently, more perinatally infected HIV positive children survive into adolescence and there is an attendant expanding population of adolescents living with HIV. The sustained survival of this sub population of adolescents and their behaviourally HIV infected counterparts has unveiled a new set of challenges associated with transitioning from the paediatric and adolescent healthcare setting to the adult healthcare setting Healthcare transition of adolescents is defined as “the purposeful, planned movement of adolescents and young adults with chronic physical and medical conditions from child-centered to adult-oriented healthcare systems”. The success of the transition process from paediatric to adult healthcare settings will greatly affect the success of ART in adolescents. This transition of care involves complex changes of clinics, models of transitioning (in terms of services available and routine practices for transferring/transitioning adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV) from paediatric to adult care), and healthcare providers which can lead to care disruptions during this vulnerable period. If this transition is not well conducted, there is a high risk of non-adherence to ART, emergence of viral resistance and loss to follow-up, with implications for individual patients as well as for the overall epidemic. The aim of this study was to investigate the challenges, models and facilitating factors and perception of the transition/integration of adolescents living with HIV into adult clinic among adolescents and health workers in selected HIV health facilities in Ondo State.
