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Table 12 Summary of ART experience and patient:staff ratios from ATSAP surveys§

From: Estimating health workforce needs for antiretroviral therapy in resource-limited settings

       

Patient-to-staff ratios***

Setting

Type*

Years ART

No. on ART to date

No. on ART

Target no. on ART

Current no. pts/mo

MD

Nurse

MD plus MO/CO

PLWH

Other educators

Counsellors

Ph

Lab tech.

CHW

Admin. or Manager

Urban

HIV

5

1350

500

1000

30

500

250

-

333

-

333

500

500

333

0

Urban

HIV/CH

3

1000

1000

1000

90

666

1000

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Urban

Med NGO+

5

800

800

1000

25

500

1000

-

-

-

-

333

500

 

1000

Rural

HIV DH

2

554

445

"not at target"

65

297

222

52

-

-

178

445

297

445

127

Urban

HIV CH

2

400

400

N/A

25

133

100

57

-

-

400

200

200

100

400

Urban

HIV PHC

2

288

288

N/A

N/A

192

144

-

-

-

144

-

-

-

-

Rural

Med CH

2

109

61

"could be higher"

N/A

244

-

-

-

-

-

610

610

  

Rural

Med Clinic

UNK

100

100

N/A

5

300

50

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Suburban

HIV/DH

4

83

40

1000

3****

400

80

-

-

80

 

-

-

80

 

Suburban

Med DH

0.4

80

80

250

~20

250

50

-

-

-

125

500

250

250

500

Urban

HIV CH

.5

76

69

N/A

10

95

25

33

11

76

-

152

-

-

38

Urban

MTCT plus NGO+

0.5

64

64

250

5–10

833

93

139

-

250

42

833

417

 

104

Urban

Med CH/PHC

1

45

45

N/A

15

45

11.25

36

45

-

-

45

  

90

Urban

ART only/CH

1

N/A

202

 

35

202

67

101

-

-

Nurses

-

81

 

404

  1. §When available, patient:staff ratios are based on proposed maximum site capacity
  2. * Med: integrated into general medicine; HIV: specialized HIV only
  3. CH: central or provincial hospital, DH: district level hospital; PHC: primary health clinic
  4. +NGO: Nongovernmental organization-run referral tertiary care hospital
  5. ++years ART; number of years site has been providing ART
  6. **MD: physician, MO: medical officer, CO: clinical officer, Ph: pharmacist or pharmacy technician, P=PLWH. CHW: Community health worker; N/A not available
  7. ***If target available, ratios calculated as if reached target (in bold). If the target or maximum predicted capacity was not given, ratios calculated based on current patients
  8. **** limited by costs