Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Editorial
. 2018 Jan 1;4(1):12-15.
doi: 10.1016/S2055-6640(20)30235-1.

HIV rapid diagnostic testing by lay providers in a key population-led health service programme in Thailand

Rapeeporn Wongkanya  1 , Tippawan Pankam  1 , Shauna Wolf  2 , Supanit Pattanachaiwit  1 , Jureeporn Jantarapakde  1 , Supabhorn Pengnongyang  1 , Prasopsuk Thapwong  3 , Apichat Udomjirasirichot  4 , Yutthana Churattanakraisri  5 , Nanthika Prawepray  6 , Apiluk Paksornsit  7 , Thidadaow Sitthipau  7 , Sarayut Petchaithong  8 , Raruay Jitsakulchaidejt  8 , Somboon Nookhai  9 , Cheewanan Lertpiriyasuwat  10 , Sumet Ongwandee  10 , Praphan Phanuphak  1 , Nittaya Phanuphak  1
Affiliations
Editorial

HIV rapid diagnostic testing by lay providers in a key population-led health service programme in Thailand

Rapeeporn Wongkanya et al. J Virus Erad. .

Abstract

Introduction: Rapid diagnostic testing (RDT) for HIV has a quick turn-around time, which increases the proportion of people testing who receive their result. HIV RDT in Thailand has traditionally been performed only by medical technologists (MTs), which is a barrier to its being scaled up. We evaluated the performance of HIV RDT conducted by trained lay providers who were members of, or worked closely with, a group of men who have sex with men (MSM) and with transgender women (TG) communities, and compared it to tests conducted by MTs. Methods: Lay providers received a 3-day intensive training course on how to perform a finger-prick blood collection and an HIV RDT as part of the Key Population-led Health Services (KPLHS) programme among MSM and TG. All the samples were tested by lay providers using Alere Determine HIV 1/2. HIV-reactive samples were confirmed by DoubleCheckGold Ultra HIV 1&2 and SD Bioline HIV 1/2. All HIV-positive and 10% of HIV-negative samples were re-tested by MTs using Serodia HIV 1/2. Results: Of 1680 finger-prick blood samples collected and tested using HIV RDT by lay providers in six drop-in centres in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chonburi and Songkhla, 252 (15%) were HIV-positive. MTs re-tested these HIV-positive samples and 143 randomly selected HIV-negative samples with 100% concordant test results. Conclusion: Lay providers in Thailand can be trained and empowered to perform HIV RDT as they were found to achieve comparable results in sample testing with MTs. Based on the task-shifting concept, this rapid HIV testing performed by lay providers as part of the KPLHS programme has great potential to enhance HIV prevention and treatment programmes among key at-risk populations.

Keywords: Performance, HIV, rapid diagnostic test (RDT), lay providers, key population-led.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Requirements, training modules and certification processes for lay providers to perform and provide HIV rapid diagnostic test in the Key Population-led Health Services programme
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Cohen MS, Chen YQ, McCauley M et al. . Prevention of HIV-1 infection with early antiretroviral therapy. N Engl J Med 2011; 365: 493– 505. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Arora DR, Maheshwari M, Arora B. Rapid point-of-care testing for detection of HIV and clinical monitoring. ISRN AIDS 2013; 287269. - PMC - PubMed
    1. National AIDS Management Center. Department of Disease Control. Ministry of Health Thailand AIDS Response Progress Report 2015. Reporting Period: Fiscal Year of 2014 ; 2015. Available at: www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/country/documents/THA_narrative_repor... ( accessed December 2017).
    1. Nyberg R, Tanchaisawat M. Dressed to Test: empowered communities take HIV services to the streets. Online edition. Frontlines April, 2016. Available at: www.usaid.gov/news-information/frontlines/march-april-2016/dressed-test-... ( accessed December 2017).
    1. Logie CH, Newman PA, Weaver J et al. . HIV-related stigma and HIV prevention uptake among young men who have sex with men and transgender women in Thailand. AIDS Patient Care STDS 2016; 30: 92– 100. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources