Welcome

Dear Reader,

Stichting HIV Monitoring (SHM) contributes significantly to the quality of care of the HIV-infected patients living throughout the Netherlands. Through life-long treatment, HIV has become a chronic disease in an expanding group of people who are surviving longer with the infection.

This eNewsetter edition focuses on HIV quality of care. Esther Engelaard, PhD student at the AMC, discusses the new quality of care study she is co-ordinating, and we also feature an article on ‘Visible Care’ (Zichtbare Zorg, ZiZo). Indirectly related to quality of care, we also discuss how SHM supports research projects through allowing access to specified data.

Once again I hope that the eNewsletter provides you with a little more insight into the activities of SHM. Please let us know if you have any feedback or ideas for upcoming issues.

Kind regards,

Frank de Wolf
Director, Stichting HIV Monitoring

New study examines quality of care 

Esther Engelhard is a PhD student from the AMC in Amsterdam. Based out of the Stichting HIV Monitoring (SHM) offices, she is coordinating a new study examining the quality of HIV care in the Netherlands. In the following article she discusses the study in further detail. Read more

'Visible Care'- Insight into the quality of care

Visible Care (Zichtbare Zorg, ZiZo) has been established due to the increasing demand for insight into the quality of care by patients, health care providers, health insurance companies and the media. The goal of ZiZo is to give insight into the quality of care in various care sectors. HIV treatment centres have taken part in ZiZo since 2011. Read more

SHM data supports HIV research projects

Stichting HIV Monitoring (SHM) collects anonymous data on HIV-infected patients in the Netherlands which is then processed and stored in SHM’s national database. As its proprietor, SHM manages the database and is responsible for controlling access and data usage. Read more

SHM PhD student to defend thesis

On Thursday, 22 November 2012, Anouk Kesselring MD, PhD student at Stichting HIV Monitoring, will defend her PhD thesis entitled ‘Clinical implications of immune recovery during antiretroviral treatment for HIV infection’. Read more

NCHIV 2012: Insights and developments in HIV research

The Sixth Netherlands Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Prevention and Treatment (NCHIV 2012) is set to take place this year on 27 November 2012. Once again, the conference will be located at the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT). NCHIV provides an update and a national platform for discussion of new insights and developments in research on the epidemiology, pathogenesis, prevention and treatment of HIV. Read more

Publication Review

Increasing sexual risk behavior among Dutch men who have sex with men: mathematical models versus prospective cohort data.
Since the introduction of combination therapy, sexual risk behavior has increased among men who have sex with men. This has been demonstrated based on changes in the annual number of HIV diagnoses and AIDS cases. This increase is now confirmed by independent data from the Amsterdam Cohort Studies. Read the abstract

The effect of efavirenz versus nevirapine-containing regimens on immunologic, virologic and clinical outcomes in a prospective observational study.
Randomized studies on the long-term effects of combination therapy are difficult to perform. By using advanced statistical analysis, observational data can also be used to gain this information. According to such an analysis of the HIV-Causal group, efavirenz was shown to have a better clinical outcome than nevirapine. Read the abstract

Could better tolerated HIV drug regimens improve patient outcome?
About half of the changes in combination therapy regimen are due to adverse events. A hypothetical first-line combination with 50% fewer side-effects has been shown to increase the life expectancy of HIV patients by 5 months. A combination with 50% less risk of virological failure increases life expectancy by only 1 month. Read the abstract

Facts and figures

The questionnaire developed for the Q-HIV study to gain input from HIV treatment centres includes 58 questions. All 26 Dutch HIV treatment centres have been asked to participate in the survey.

© Stichting HIV Monitoring 2012