BACKGROUND Patients who do not return for follow-up at clinics providing comprehensive HIV/AIDS care require special attention. This is particularly true where resources are limited and clinic loads are high. Themba Lethu Clinic at Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg is a facility supported by PEPFAR funding through Right to Care (Grant CA-574-A-00-02-00018); more than 800 HIV/AIDS patients a...

50 children defined as persistent outpatient nonattenders were compared with 50 children who regularly attended the same clinics. Several factors were often found in the group of nonattenders: (a) initial referral via casualty without a letter from the family doctor, (b) hospital admission before the first outpatient appointment, (c) recognition of multiple medical problems, and (d) evidence of...

PURPOSE To assess the ratio of patients lost to follow-up (FU) after midurethral sling surgery, to evaluate their success rate and current status, and to identify the reasons for FU loss. MATERIALS AND METHODS Two-hundred thirty-eight patients who received trans-obturator tape (TOT) surgery were reviewed. For patients lost to FU within 3 months, Stamey's outcome questionnaire and questions re...

PROBLEM In many resource-poor countries that are scaling up antiretroviral therapy (ART), 5-25% of patients are reported as "lost to follow-up". This figure is 9% in Malawi. There is no published information about the true outcome status of these patients. APPROACH In four facilities in northern Malawi, ART registers and master cards were used to identify patients who had not attended the fac...

OBJECTIVES To better understand the reasons why patients default from antiretroviral treatment (ART) programmes to help design interventions that improve treatment retention and ultimately, patient outcomes. METHODS Prospective cohort study at two treatment sites in South Africa followed by qualitative interviews with patients that had defaulted. RESULTS Respondents overwhelmingly reported ...