Measuring Oral Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Continuation Through Electronic Health Records During Program Scale-Up Among the General Population in Zambia

HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is being scaled-up in Zambia, but PrEP continuation data are limited by paper-based registers and aggregate reports. Utilization of Zambia’s electronic health record (EHR) system, SmartCare, may address this gap. We analyzed individuals aged ≥ 15 years who initiated PrEP between October 2020 and September 2021 in four provinces in Zambia in SmartCare versus aggregate reports. We measured PrEP continuation using Kaplan–Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards models. SmartCare captured 29% (16,791/58,010) of new PrEP clients; 49% of clients continued at one month, and 89% discontinued PrEP by February 2022. Women were less likely than men to discontinue PrEP (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]: 0.89, 95% CI 0.86–0.92, z = − 6.99, p < 0.001), and PrEP clients aged ≥ 50 years were less likely to discontinue PrEP compared to clients 15–19 years (aHR: 0.53, 95% CI 0.48–0.58, z = − 13.04, p < 0.001). Zambia’s EHR is a valuable resource for measuring individual-level PrEP continuation over time and can be used to inform HIV prevention programs.