By Shadrack Babu, Research Associate

This quarter, we successfully held the end-of-study dissemination meeting for our project: “Evaluating the Impact of the HIV Infant Tracking System (HITSystem) on Retention in Prevention-of-Mother-to- Child Transmission Services and Maternal Viral Suppression in Siaya and Mombasa Counties, Kenya.”

The HITSystem is an innovative online platform that improves communication between clinics, laboratories, and mothers through automated text reminders for PMTCT follow-up, and dashboard alerts that prompt for timely clinical action by providers.

The collaborative randomized control study, conducted by GHI in partnership with KUMC and bfrom 2020–2025 and funded by NIH, evaluated the impact of HITSystem 2.1 in real-world clinical settings.

Primary outcomes included:

• Retention in PMTCT services through six months postpartum
• Maternal viral suppression within the same period.

The study also examined implementation outcomes and cost-effectiveness.

The Results were presented to County and Hospital managers by the Lead PI, Dr. Sarah Kessler (KUMC). The findings sparked rich discussions on the role of electronic systems in improving HIV/PMTCT services, the importance of adoption and interoperability, and opportunities for future collaborations with county governments and their research units.