New HIV Testing Yields Results in One Hour

HARARE, Zimbabwe—The country that gave PSI its first voluntary HIV counseling and testing (VCT) project has just launched officially a new method of HIV testing that produces results in only an hour. The old method required a week to get the results back. Since its introduction in 2001, nearly 40,000 people have been tested with the rapid test kits at the 12 centers of the New Start Network located throughout Zimbabwe.

Same-day results mean lower travel time, lower travel expenses and less time taken from work (meaning lower cost to the consumer); less anxiety due to shorter waiting period; and the client is normally able to get the same counselor for pre-test and post-test counseling.

The advantages to the VCT program are clear: The clients are more likely to get results; this lowers overall costs for the program and increases it effectiveness.

The launch in Harare attracted hundreds of people in the health sector and mass media, and was officiated by Deputy Minister of Health and Child Welfare Dr. David Parirenyatwa. In his keynote address, Dr. Parirenyatwa said the introduction of rapid testing followed extensive evaluation, and has proven to be of superb quality, producing 100% accurate results. In the past when clients had to wait for a week before getting their results, he added, nearly one third did not return for their results. The introduction of rapid tests, he said, has ushered in a new era in the VCT program, and has increased client uptake of results from 77% to 97%.

Dr. Obadiah Moyo, head of the National Health Laboratory Service, stressed the importance of confidentiality and counseling in the VCT process. He said that all HIV testing facilities have to go through established procedures to ensure effective standardization, coordination and monitoring. Facilities also have to be accredited, and should have a quality assurance program running within them to ensure accuracy of results.

Some wanted to know whether the introduction of rapid tests would compromise the quality of the pre- and post-test counseling, as well as the results themselves. A group of panelists reassured those gathered that rapid tests were as highly sensitive and specific as the older method, called ELISA, and that, in fact, the whole counseling process has now improved. The result is more personalized service, since a client now sees the same counselor for both the pre- and post-test counseling sessions.

In only three years, the New Start Network here has been transformed from a well-meaning experiment in the social marketing of VCT services to the second largest effort of its kind on the African continent (the largest is in Uganda). It has even entered popular culture to such an extent that the Zimbabwean postal service has celebrated the network in a New Start postage stamp.

PSI began implementing a national VCT network in 1999 with funding from USAID/Zimbabwe and the support of the HIV/AIDS and TB Unit of the Zimbabwean Ministry of Health and Child Welfare.

VCT has also been launched in other PSI projects in Africa—Botswana, Kenya, Mali, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia all have VCT programs, although the style of implementation varies somewhat from country to country. Mali and Rwanda are already using this new rapid testing technology and the other countries are expected to adopt it soon. PSI also has funding to launch VCT in Angola, India, Mozambique, Namibia and Togo and is seeking funding in Burkina Faso, Georgia, Madagascar, and South Africa.

—Tendayi Chakanyuka, Communications Officer, PSI/Zimbabwe

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Dr. Patrick Osewe (left) of USAID-Zimbabwe helps demonstrate the rapid testing process.