Adaptation of a general primary care package for HIV ‐infected adults to an HIV centre setting in G aborone, B otswana

Background As life expectancy of HIV ‐infected patients improves due to antiretroviral treatment ( ART ) and the importance of associated co‐morbidities and chronic diseases increases, preventive care will become increasingly important. Adaptation of existing preventive guidelines to local environments will become a priority for HIV treatment programmes. Methods Guidance from the W orld H ealth O rganization, a focused evidenced‐based literature review, B otswana national guidelines, B otswana‐specific morbidity and mortality data and centre‐specific data were used to adapt a published general primary care package for limited‐resource areas to our centre's specific setting. Results The preventive care package contains recommendations on tuberculosis prevention, malnutrition, depression, cervical and breast cancer, hepatitis B coinfection, cardiovascular risk factors, external injury prevention, domestic violence screening, tobacco and substance‐abuse counselling, contraception and screening and treatment of sexually transmitted infections. Conclusion This preventive care package addresses the comprehensive health needs of HIV ‐infected adults in the FMC in an evidence‐based manner. The process of combining clinic‐specific prevalence data, national guidelines, regional literature and assessment of public‐sector resources to adapt an existing general package could be utilised to develop similar guidelines in other resource‐limited locales.