Convening
under the theme “Viral Load Testing in African HIV Treatment
Programmes,” healthcare professionals and stakeholders from more than 20
African Ministries of Health and other global partners developed
consensus strategies for strengthening or expanding HIV viral load
testing capacity in Africa; attendees also worked to enhance
partnerships to support the scale-up of this important diagnostic test
and monitoring marker of HIV infection.
“Viral
load is the best tool we have for monitoring treatment success and
deciding when to switch to new antiretroviral therapy (ART)
medications,” said Dr. Gottfried Hirnschall, Director, HIV/AIDS
Department, World Health Organization. "To better support people on ART
and support the preventive benefits of ART in reducing HIV transmission,
improving access to simple, affordable viral load testing in
resource-limited settings is a priority for the coming years."
“Ensuring
that people living with HIV have access to safe and accurate monitoring
of the virus is a basic human right,” said Michel SidibĂ©, Executive
Director of UNAIDS. “Testing needs to be simpler, quicker, more cost
effective and more widely available, only then will the full benefits of
antiretroviral therapy be realised.”
As
part of an overall effort to achieve an AIDS-free generation, many
countries in Africa have started to adopt and implement HIV viral load
testing programmes. A number of challenges exist which limit test access
and cost-effectiveness. This consultative meeting aimed to:
•
Develop strategies and recommendations for adopting and implementing
HIV viral load testing policy, in consideration of World Health
Organization guidelines;
•
Review operational, technical and financial challenges to expanding
access to HIV viral load testing in Africa, especially in difficult to
reach areas;
• Discuss strategies for development of technical skills and technology transfer; and,
• Develop strategies to utilise existing capacity of and implement future point-of-care HIV viral load technologies.
Speakers
and attendees included representatives from African Ministries of
Health, the South African National Health Laboratory Service, World
Health Organization, UNAIDS, United States Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, government global health programmes, private
organisations and industry.
“As
African health programmes continue to achieve marked success concerning
patient outcomes, mature laboratory programmes remain integral to this
achievement. ASLM is the first pan-African organisation committed
exclusively to advancing and guiding laboratory medicine,” says Dr.
Tsehaynesh Messele, ASLM Chief Executive Officer. “Laboratory services
play a pivotal role in maintaining strong, healthy communities, part of
which is monitoring HIV viral load in patients.”
Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM).
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