Utilization of Rapid Diagnostic Testing in sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Effects on HIV Prevention
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a global threat to health. To prevent and control the disease caused by the virus, developed and developing countries continue to invest heavily in research and equipment so as to accurately detect the virus. The utilization of highly sensitive and effe...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Global Health and Education Projects, Inc.
2020-12-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Maternal and Child Health and AIDS |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://mchandaids.org/index.php/IJMA/article/view/423 |
| _version_ | 1818388842917396480 |
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| author | Elizabeth Armstrong-Mensah Ato Tetteh Seung Choi |
| author_facet | Elizabeth Armstrong-Mensah Ato Tetteh Seung Choi |
| author_sort | Elizabeth Armstrong-Mensah |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a global threat to health. To prevent and control the disease caused by the virus, developed and developing countries continue to invest heavily in research and equipment so as to accurately detect the virus. The utilization of highly sensitive and effective rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) have the potential to detect HIV in high-burden countries, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Yet, in SSA, challenges associated with HIV-RDT result inaccuracy, HIV misdiagnosis, poor tester capacity, and the improper storage of HIV-RDT kits have negatively impacted the benefits, and threaten to undermine HIV prevention. This paper focuses on the utilization of RDTs in HIV diagnosis in SSA, HIV-RDT challenges, and the effects of HIV-RDT challenges on HIV prevention. Subsequent to reviewing available literature, the authors found that although HIV-RDTs can negatively impact HIVprevention efforts in SSA due to the likelihood of false positive HIV diagnoses, they generally provide quick results for people in resource poor settings, and do not require them to return to the testing sites to obtain their results. Obtaining accurate rapid HIV results means people who test positive can immediately seek care and take steps to prevent future transmission of the virus.
Copyright © 2020 Armstrong-Mensah et al. Published by Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in this journal, is properly cited. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T04:32:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6114dc076a534b88beb4d02c008b0366 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2161-8674 2161-864X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T04:32:16Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Maternal and Child Health and AIDS |
| spelling | doaj.art-6114dc076a534b88beb4d02c008b03662022-12-21T23:17:03ZengGlobal Health and Education Projects, Inc.International Journal of Maternal and Child Health and AIDS2161-86742161-864X2020-12-0110110.21106/ijma.423Utilization of Rapid Diagnostic Testing in sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Effects on HIV PreventionElizabeth Armstrong-Mensah0Ato Tetteh1Seung Choi2School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia 30303, USASchool of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia 30303, USASchool of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia 30303, USAThe human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a global threat to health. To prevent and control the disease caused by the virus, developed and developing countries continue to invest heavily in research and equipment so as to accurately detect the virus. The utilization of highly sensitive and effective rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) have the potential to detect HIV in high-burden countries, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Yet, in SSA, challenges associated with HIV-RDT result inaccuracy, HIV misdiagnosis, poor tester capacity, and the improper storage of HIV-RDT kits have negatively impacted the benefits, and threaten to undermine HIV prevention. This paper focuses on the utilization of RDTs in HIV diagnosis in SSA, HIV-RDT challenges, and the effects of HIV-RDT challenges on HIV prevention. Subsequent to reviewing available literature, the authors found that although HIV-RDTs can negatively impact HIVprevention efforts in SSA due to the likelihood of false positive HIV diagnoses, they generally provide quick results for people in resource poor settings, and do not require them to return to the testing sites to obtain their results. Obtaining accurate rapid HIV results means people who test positive can immediately seek care and take steps to prevent future transmission of the virus. Copyright © 2020 Armstrong-Mensah et al. Published by Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in this journal, is properly cited.https://mchandaids.org/index.php/IJMA/article/view/423HIV Rapid HIV testingHIV preventionSub-Saharan Africa |
| spellingShingle | Elizabeth Armstrong-Mensah Ato Tetteh Seung Choi Utilization of Rapid Diagnostic Testing in sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Effects on HIV Prevention International Journal of Maternal and Child Health and AIDS HIV Rapid HIV testing HIV prevention Sub-Saharan Africa |
| title | Utilization of Rapid Diagnostic Testing in sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Effects on HIV Prevention |
| title_full | Utilization of Rapid Diagnostic Testing in sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Effects on HIV Prevention |
| title_fullStr | Utilization of Rapid Diagnostic Testing in sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Effects on HIV Prevention |
| title_full_unstemmed | Utilization of Rapid Diagnostic Testing in sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Effects on HIV Prevention |
| title_short | Utilization of Rapid Diagnostic Testing in sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Effects on HIV Prevention |
| title_sort | utilization of rapid diagnostic testing in sub saharan africa challenges and effects on hiv prevention |
| topic | HIV Rapid HIV testing HIV prevention Sub-Saharan Africa |
| url | https://mchandaids.org/index.php/IJMA/article/view/423 |
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