Testing policies and guidelines

Testing policies and guidelines 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

• 

  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

• 

  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

• 

  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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  Test early, test often…how could the UK improve its HIV testing rates?

  Although rates are improving, gay men in the UK still take HIV tests less often than their counterparts in comparable countries, and nearly half of African men with...

  From:  HIV treatment update

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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

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  Routine or opt-out counselling and testing: findings from the 2006 PEPFAR meeting

  Review of the issues involved in expanding HIV counselling and testing in resource-limited settings....

  From:  HIV & AIDS treatment in practice

Testing policies and guidelines 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

• 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

• 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

• HIV incidence in gay men unchanged in England and Wales, despite more testing

  A paper in The Lancet Infectious Diseases by scientists from the UK’s Medical Research Council and the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has calculated that the number of gay men in England and Wales who become infected with ...

  04 February 2013 | Gus Cairns

• HPA urges further action on HIV testing to reduce numbers undiagnosed and diagnosed late

  The Health Protection Agency (HPA) issued its annual epidemiological report yesterday, and drew particular attention to the need for improvement in HIV testing rates – six of its eight recommendations concern testing. The headline findings concerning new HIV diagnoses were reported ...

  30 November 2012 | Roger Pebody

• Very high rates of HIV infection among gay/bisexual male youths in the United States

  Over a quarter of new HIV infections in the US involve young people aged between 13 and 24, investigators report in the November 27th edition of MMWR Weekly Report. Approximately 75% of these infections involved gay and bisexual young ...

  29 November 2012 | Michael Carter

• Scale up of HIV testing in Africa isn't leading to breaches in consent or confidentiality

  Efforts to scale up HIV testing in sub-Saharan Africa have not resulted in breaches of patient rights or the provision of poorer services, results of a study published in PLoS Medicine suggest. The authors examined whether practices relating to ...

  26 October 2012 | Michael Carter

• False-negative confirmatory HIV tests in children are frequent after starting ART

  False-negative rapid antibody tests, in the absence of virologic testing at the age of 18 months, in children receiving antiretroviral treatment can result in interruption of treatment, and false-negative results occur with high frequency, according to the results of a ...

  19 September 2012 | Carole Leach-Lemens

• 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 Drug Administration (FDA), meaning that it can be legally sold in the ...

  07 July 2012 | Roger Pebody

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Testing policies and guidelines news selected from other sources

• Complaints over Kaiser Permanente's involuntary HIV screening may hint of things to come: critics

  For some people HIV testing remains a touchy subject, while others only want to be tested anonymously for privacy reasons. But Kaiser says that despite member complaints, the test records won't be deleted. Critics say the episode is a taste of things to come.

  17 May 2013 | Oregon Live

• 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

• Task force calls for routine HIV testing for all adults

  An influential U.S. panel is calling for HIV screening for all Americans aged 15 to 65, regardless of whether they are considered to be at high risk, a change that may help lift some of the stigma associated with HIV testing.

  30 April 2013 | Reuters

• 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

• HIV Tests Are Needed Much More Frequently Than the CDC Advises

  Significantly raising the frequency of HIV tests would benefit both high- and low-risk groups and prove cost-effective as well.

  27 March 2013 | AIDSMeds

• UNAIDS calls for Zero parallel systems for HIV and TB

  UNAIDS is calling for Zero parallel systems for HIV and TB. This means that HIV and TB systems should be fully integrated, every person living with HIV is tested for TB and that every person with TB is offered an HIV test, and people with TB who are HIV-positive are started on antiretroviral treatment immediately.

  20 March 2013 | UNAIDS

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