“UNAIDS estimates that there are currently over 36 million people infected with HIV globally, with disproportionate burdens in eastern and southern Africa where major treatment programmes have been introduced. Better understanding of the causes of HIV-related mortality is needed to fill major knowledge gaps and to enable improvement of the impact of HIV treatment programmes. Most deaths (including AIDS-related ones) in low-income and middle-income countries occur at home and without medical attention at the time of death. In these settings, and in the absence of robust vital registration and death certification systems, WHO recommends the use of verbal autopsies as an acceptable approach to assign the underlying cause of death. We have designed a verbal autopsy tool, the AIDS Treatment Module (ATM), to identify and remedy gaps in the HIV care continuum at local, regional, and national levels to improve the quality of care provided by HIV treatment programmes.”
See the article at The Lancet HIV or for a direct download click here
Verbal Autopsy Tool: AIDS Treatment Module (ATM)
