Collaborative HIV care in primary health care: nurses' views.

BACKGROUND: Collaborative HIV care between the nurses and traditional health practitioners is an important strategy to improve health care of people living with HIV.

AIM: To explore and describe the views of nurses regarding collaborative HIV care in primary healthcare services in the City of Tshwane, South Africa.

METHOD: A qualitative, descriptive design was used to explore and describe the views of nurses who met the study's inclusion criteria. In-depth individual interviews were conducted to collect data from purposively selected nurses. Content analysis was used to analyse data.

RESULTS: Two main categories were developed during the data analysis stage. The views of nurses and health system challenges regarding collaborative HIV care.

DISCUSSION: The study findings revealed that there was inadequate collaborative HIV care between the nurses and the traditional health practitioners.

CONCLUSION: It is evident that there is inadequate policy implementation, monitoring and evaluation regarding collaboration in HIV care. The study findings might influence policymakers to consider the importance of collaborative HIV care, and improve the quality of care by strengthening the referral system and follow-up of people living with HIV and AIDS, as a result the health outcomes as implied in the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 might be improved.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND HEALTH POLICY: Training and involvement of traditional health practitioners in the nursing and health policy should be considered to enhance and build a trustworthy working relationship between the nurses and the traditional health practitioners in HIV care.