Field evaluation of HIV point-of-care testing for early infant diagnosis in Cape Town, South Africa.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Early infant HIV diagnosis (EID) coverage and uptake remains challenging. Point-of-care (POC) testing may improve access and turn-around-times, but, while several POC technologies are in development there are few data on their implementation in the field. METHODS:We conducted an implementation study of the Alere q Detect POC system for EID at two public sector health facilities in Cape Town. HIV-exposed neonates undergoing routine EID testing at a large maternity hospital and a primary care clinic received both laboratory-based HIV PCR testing per local protocols and a POC test. We analysed the performance of POC versus laboratory testing, and conducted semi-structured interviews with providers to assess acceptability and implementation issues. RESULTS:Overall 478 specimens were

SUBMITTER: Dunning L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5738050 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature