Testing and health monitoring

Testing and health monitoring features

• Quality of health services is key in encouraging or discouraging people from HIV testing in Africa

  The uptake of HIV testing in sub-Saharan Africa is influenced by the quality and manner in which health services are delivered, according to a review of 42 qualitative...

  From:  News

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  Tales of the late diagnosed

  Gus Cairns talks to four people who were diagnosed with HIV only just in time to save their lives – and the daughter of one who wasn’t. ...

  From:  HIV treatment update

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  Point-of-care (POC) diagnostics are essential to achieving an AIDS-free generation and improving outcomes in HIV-exposed children

  This edition reviews recent evidence on point-of-care testing, on tests in development, and looks at experience of optimising performance of dried blood spot sampling....

  From:  HIV & AIDS treatment in practice

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  HIV home tests – how will they be used?

  This week the OraQuick In-Home HIV Test, which will be sold over the counter and used without medical supervision, received its final approval from the Food and...

  From:  News

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  Testing…testing…one, two, three

  When you visit your HIV clinic, they will be measuring a lot more than just your CD4 count and viral load. What else are they checking and...

  From:  HIV treatment update

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  Happy families

  Sally Farthing is an HIV specialist midwife at West Middlesex Hospital in Isleworth, west London. She praises the measures – and the mothers – who together have sent...

  From:  HIV treatment update

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  Don’t live in ignorance: how do we expand HIV testing?

  Should everyone take an HIV test? Gus Cairns investigates. ...

  From:  HIV treatment update

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  Scaling up HIV testing and counselling towards universal access: what works in resource-limited settings?

  This issue looks at the diverse possibilities and challenges for expanding HIV testing and counselling as well as policy and practice in resource-poor settings. ...

  From:  HIV & AIDS treatment in practice

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  Clinical monitoring as effective as CD4 count and viral load for deciding when to switch to second-line ART in poor countries

  This issue reviews monitoring options for switching to second-line in resource-poor settings. ...

  From:  HIV & AIDS treatment in practice

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  Main article: Making the world safe for more routine HIV testing

  Review of issues surrounding recommednations for more routine HIV antibody testing in resource-limited settings, including human rights arguments and proposals for mandatory testing, as well...

  From:  HIV & AIDS treatment in practice

Testing and health monitoring in your own words

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  Finding out

  The day was 9th of November, 2009; I was having my college lesson on the concepts of computer script languages – what a day it...

  From: In your own words

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  The bus of doom

  I've recently read the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman (which, if you haven't already read, I highly recommend). In this theological novel disguised...

  From: In your own words

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  Seroconversion

  I was given my diagnosis over the telephone after spending four days in hospital with meningitis. I now realise it wasn’t meningitis, it was an...

  From: In your own words

Testing and health monitoring news from aidsmap

• Dramatic improvements in HIV testing are possible – local leadership and multiple initiatives required

  In Brighton & Hove the proportion of new HIV diagnoses which are made outside of sexual health and antenatal clinics has increased from 25.7% in 2000 to 57.8% in 2012, driven by improvements in HIV testing in primary care ...

  16 May 2013 | Roger Pebody

• Training for GPs can increase HIV testing rate

  A multifaceted educational intervention for doctors and practice nurses working in general practice in London led to a tripling in the number of HIV tests provided, researchers report in an open-access article in the May issue of Sexually Transmitted Infections. Guidelines ...

  22 April 2013 | Roger Pebody

• Viral load in genital secretions differs between men and women undergoing HIV therapy

  The female genital tract appears to be a 'reservoir' for ongoing HIV replication, even during effective antiretroviral therapy, an international team of investigators report in Clinical Infectious Diseases. “The female genital tract may serve as a reservoir of ...

  11 April 2013 | Michael Carter

• No increase in sexual risk taking by gay men in England, 2001 to 2008

  Analysis of Gay Men’s Sex Survey data shows that, overall, the proportion of men reporting unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) did not change between the 2001 and 2008 surveys. There was an increase in the number of men with diagnosed ...

  10 April 2013 | Roger Pebody

• Review shows HIV self-testing to be acceptable, accurate and feasible, but finds little data on linkage to care for those testing HIV positive

  Self-testing for HIV is highly acceptable to people in a variety of settings, investigators report in the open-access journal PLoS Medicine. The authors reviewed the results of 21 separate studies and found an acceptability rate of up to 100%. Self-testing ...

  04 April 2013 | Michael Carter

• Recruitment through social networks is an efficient way to increase demand for HIV testing among high-risk groups

  A pilot project which used a peer recruitment strategy, financial incentives and the involvement of people living with HIV has demonstrated that this approach can increase demand for HIV testing services and efficiently identify people with HIV, report Sandra ...

  29 March 2013 | Roger Pebody

• Quality of health services is key in encouraging or discouraging people from HIV testing in Africa

  The uptake of HIV testing in sub-Saharan Africa is influenced by the quality and manner in which health services are delivered, according to a review of 42 qualitative studies, published this month in BMC Public Health. Perceived problems with confidentiality, ...

  26 March 2013 | Roger Pebody

• Participation in community groups increases uptake of HIV testing services in Zimbabwe

  Membership of community organisations is associated with increased rates of HIV testing and uptake of services to prevent mother-to-child transmission, according to the results of research conducted in Zimbabwe and published in the online edition of AIDS. However, there ...

  05 March 2013 | Michael Carter

• Tenofovir, atazanavir/ritonavir and Kaletra associated with kidney problems in patients taking HIV therapy

  Data from a large study into the safety of anti-HIV drugs suggest that the antiretrovirals tenofovir (Viread, also in Truvada, Atripla and Eviplera), atazanavir (Reyataz) and lopinavir/ritonavir (Kaletra) each have an independent association with a decline in kidney function. ...

  15 February 2013 | Michael Carter

• Media campaign on acute HIV infection symptoms has limited impact

  A advertising campaign and website that aimed to raise awareness among gay men in Seattle, Washington, of the symptoms of acute HIV infection was recalled by a quarter of the target audience and had no impact on gay men’s ...

  14 February 2013 | Roger Pebody

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Testing and health monitoring news selected from other sources

• Why Australia needs home-based HIV testing

  Getting people tested more often is crucial in reducing HIV infections. With rapid HIV testing recently approved for a trial in Australia, experts are now pushing for the approval of home-based HIV testing.

  03 May 2013 | Gay News Network

• Colombian antenatal HIV testing rates reveal health insurance paradox

  The introduction of subsidized health insurance for poor people in Colombia resulted in decreased access to HIV tests in antenatal care, research shows. The study results also highlight that levels of antenatal HIV testing remain low in the country, despite it being introduced as standard into national insurance programs in 2000 as part of a strategy to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the virus.

  29 April 2013 | Medwire News

• UK: NHS funding crunch creates a challenge for GPs to improve public health

  The recent reforms to the English NHS present opportunities for GPs and other primary care staff to lead a more proactive approach to prevention and helping people remain healthy into old age but only if they are empowered to do so, argues a new report.

  26 April 2013 | Nuffield Trust

• Botswana: Compulsory HIV tests coming, are you ready?

  Last week Thursday, marked a sad day in the history of human rights. Parliament rejected all amendments aimed at ensuring that being HIV positive does not take away one's dignity. Parliament decided to entrench the violation of human rights, even more so, the rights of those living with HIV.

  08 April 2013 | Mmegi Online

• Kenya: Ministry Buys Unapproved HIV Test Kits

  The Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation has announced the adoption of new HIV testing test kits that have not been approved by the World Health Organisation. "We fear that considerations other than to have the best kits available to Kenyans may be at play," said a doctor on condition of anonymity.

  03 April 2013 | AllAfrica

• Commissioning HIV Testing Services in England: a practical guide for commissioners

  This toolkit is designed primarily for the many individuals and organisations who will have some responsibility for the commissioning of HIV testing services. But more broadly it will also be useful for the wide range of professionals and bodies with a responsibility for planning local health strategies and improving the quality of healthcare.

  02 April 2013 | NAT

• Dr Alan McOwan: Testing times

  You are safer having unsafe sex with someone who is HIV positive and being treated than with someone who doesn’t know their status, says Dr Alan McOwan

  20 February 2013 | Gay Star News

• Routine HIV Testing in U.S. Healthcare Settings?

  Despite the 2006 CDC recommendation, offering routine HIV testing is not universal — even among HIV care providers.

  12 February 2013 | Journal Watch

• Tapping into online communities brings dramatic results in health

  Operated by the Chelsea and Westminster hospital's sexual health centre in Soho, 56 Dean Street, in conjunction with the remote healthcare specialist DrThom and the gay dating site Gaydar, the Dean Street at Home initiative uses the principles of online marketing to diagnose HIV efficiently through careful targeting.

  07 February 2013 | The Guardian

• Is the UK Ready for HIV Home Testing Kits?

  Despite the logistical and regulatory minefield, I would argue that we need the option of home testing. What we are currently doing simply isn't working!

  07 February 2013 | Huffington Post

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