star initiative
featured resources
Browse the complete STAR library to find scientific publications, training materials, program planning tools, country case studies, trouble-shooting material and many other valuable resources.
An Introduction
to HIVST and STAR
in Documents
STAR supports roll-out and scale up of HIVST with funding from Unitaid: The STAR Initiative’s aims and scope of work are laid out in the STAR brochure produced in 2017 and an updated 2018 report describing achievements of phases 1 and 2, available here. STAR’s extensive research outputs led to a supplement on HIVST published by the Journal of the International AIDS Society in March 2019. A Quick Reference Guide on HIVST and STAR’s guidance for program planning can be viewed here. The full list of publications produced by STAR is available here.
Unitaid and WHO monitor growth of the global HIVST market, providing information for donors: One of STAR’s key goals is to catalyze the growth of a global market for HIVST products. Unitaid and WHO monitor progress through regular Market and Technology Landscape Reports. Read the most recent report here.
WHO recommends HIVST as an important complement to facility-based HIV testing for national programs: In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) updated existing recommendations on HIV self-testing, further prioritizing the approach. Read current recommendations here, previous guidelines here and WHO’s strategic framework for HIVST scale-up here.
Featured
scientific publications
To browse STAR’s complete list of scientific publications, please click the button below or select items of interest from the panels here.
Supplement to the Journal of the International AIDS Society: “Realizing the potential of HIV self-testing for Africa: lessons learned from the STAR project”
WHO Bulletin: “A tale of two countries: Lessons learned from implementation and scale-up of HIV self-testing services for female sex workers in Zimbabwe and Malawi.”
Journal of the International AIDS Society: “Cost-per-diagnosis as a metric for monitoring cost-effectiveness of HIV testing programmes in low-income settings in southern Africa: health economic and modelling analysis.”
BMC Medical Research Methodology: “Using research networks to generate trustworthy qualitative public health research findings from multiple contexts.”
Annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections 2019 (4-7 March 2019; Seattle, WA, USA)
INTEREST Conference 2019 (14-17 May 2019; Accra, Ghana)
14th AIDS Impact Conference (29-31 July 2019; London, UK)
International Health Economics Association Conference (13-17 July 2019; Basel, Switzerland)
10th IAS Conference on HIV Science (21-24 July 2019; Mexico City, Mexico)
20th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA; 2-7 December 2019; Kigali, Rwanda)
BMJ Open: “A cluster-randomized controlled trial to determine the effect of peer delivery HIV Self-Screening to support linkage to HIV prevention in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: study protocol.”
BMC Infectious Diseases: “Community-led delivery of HIV self-testing to improve HIV testing, ART initiation and broader social outcomes in rural Malawi: study protocol for a cluster-randomized trial.”