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Abstract
HIV counseling and testing facility in Nepal
J. Rose
Issues: Counseling and testing will take place in a number of settings and situations as the HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs expand. Counseling should be viewed as a means to initiate prevention and ensure access to continuing care. The decision to be tested should always be made by the client himself/herself. A wide range of different HIV antibody tests are available including ELISA tests based on different principles and many newer simple and rapid HIV tests. However, studies have shown that the latest generation of ELISAs and rapid tests are as reliable for confirmation as western blots in compare ELISA and rapid test are less expensive.
Description: ELISAs are best performed at a regional or national laboratory and it has limited application in rural setting where the laboratory infrastructure and equipments are insufficient but ELISAs are not suitable or cost-effective to run a small number of specimens. Because the time before results are available may be from days to 2-3 weeks after collection. A rapid test is particularly appropriate also for confidential testing among hard-to-reach populations (IDUs, FSWs, and MSMs) or geographical remote population.
Lessons learned: Rapid tests may be appropriate for hard-to-reach (e.g. IDUs, FSWs, and MSMs) or geographical remote population (migrants), for whom HIV test results may need to be provided on site on the same day as specimen collection. But UNAIDS and WHO recommend alternative testing strategies using combinations of ELISAs or rapid tests to confirm initial positive test. (UNAIDS 1997)
Recommendations: After assessing the current situation in the country regarding the technical and logistic problems of ELISA machines and kits, the use of two or more rapid tests based on different test principles (antigen) is recommended as the minimum standard HIV test algorithm to be followed at all levels of health care delivery systems.
AIDS 2006 - XVI International AIDS Conference
Abstract no.
CDC1208
Suggested Citation
" J. Rose
HIV counseling and testing facility in Nepal.
:
AIDS 2006 - XVI International AIDS Conference:
Abstract no.
CDC1208"
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