Feasibility of dried blood spots for HIV viral load monitoring in decentralized area in North Vietnam in a test-and-treat era, the MOVIDA project.

Delay of DBS transfer to the central laboratory was acceptable and most viral loads were measured in ≤30 days, in-line with routine follow-up. However, the level of DBS coverage and the proportion of patients in failure for whom a confirmatory viral load was available were suboptimal, indicating that integration of viral load monitoring in the field requires, among other things, careful training and strong involvement of the local teams. The proportion of patients experiencing virological failure was in line with other reports; interestingly those who reported being non-adherent and those with a low BMI were more at risk of failure.