Abstract for: Design and Evaluation of interventions for Preventing HIV Drug Resistance in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

HIV infection remains one of the largest global health problems with 38.4 million people living with HIV (PLHIV) in 2021. Two-thirds of these infections are estimated to be from Sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, there were about 1.7 million PLHIV in 2021 with 81,000 new HIV cases every year. Anti-Retroviral therapy(ART) is the cornerstone of HIV infection management. Early ART initiation and maintenance reduce HIV morbidity and reduce infection spread. The emergence of HIV drug resistance(HIVDR) threatens the success of HIV management programs and could lead to a rebound in HIV incidence and mortality. Furthermore, it retards progress toward achieving the global goal of ending the HIV epidemic by 2030. HIVDR is a complex adaptive system that is influenced by a multitude of interconnected factors including health literacy, poverty, quality of care, research and development, etc. In order to fully understand its complexity a system dynamic approach is imperative. The aim of the study is to create a HIVDR model and design interventions for HIVDR. The study is being conducted in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. A transdisciplinary human-centered approach will be used in data collection with close stakeholder involvement for model construction, model validation, and design of interventions.