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
. 2023 Jul 5;13(7):e068980.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-068980.

SARS-CoV-2 self-testing in Peru: a cross-sectional survey of values and attitudes of the general population

Guillermo Z Martínez-Pérez  1 , Sonjelle Shilton  2 , Patricia Silvia Mallma Salazar  3 , Paola Pflucker Oses  3 , Paola Alejandra Torres-Slimming  3 , Deepshikha Batheja  4 , Abhik Banerji  4 , Amber Mallery  2 , Elena Ivanova Reipold  2 , Cesar Carcamo  3
Affiliations

SARS-CoV-2 self-testing in Peru: a cross-sectional survey of values and attitudes of the general population

Guillermo Z Martínez-Pérez et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the values of and attitudes towards the use of rapid SARS-CoV-2 antigen-detection tests for self-testing in a rural and an urban area in Peru.

Design: Cross-sectional, street-based population survey.

Setting: A series of over 400 randomly selected street points in Valle del Mantaro and in Lima.

Participants: 438 respondents (203 female) participated. They were all older than 17 years and provided informed consent for participation.

Intervention: All respondents answered on the spot, a 35-item questionnaire developed in KoboToolbox.

Primary and secondary outcome measures: Primary outcomes of interest were: likelihood to use a SARS-CoV-2 self-test; willingness to pay for a SARS-CoV-2 self-test and likelihood to comply with recommended actions following a positive SARS-CoV-2 self-test result. Bivariate analyses and Poisson regression (PR) analyses were performed to identify significant associations between dependent variables and independent variables pertaining to respondents' characteristics, risk perception and previous experiences with conventional COVID-19 testing.

Results: Of the 438 respondents, 51.49% had previous experience with conventional COVID-19 testing; 20.37% had COVID-19 disease; 86.96% accepted the idea of SARS-CoV-2 self-testing; and, 78.95% would be likely to use it if needed. Almost all (94.75%) would pay for a self-testing device (mean acceptable payment: US$10.4) if it was not provided free of charge by health authorities. Overall, 93.12%, 86.93% and 85.32% would self-isolate, report the results and warn their contacts, respectively. Being a female (adjusted PR 1.05, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.09, p<0.018), having completed secondary education (adjusted PR 1.18, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.37, p<0.024) and expressing likelihood to use self-testing (adjusted PR 1.08, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.16, p<0.0.24) could be predictors of willingness to pay for a self-test.

Conclusions: Self-testing is perceived as an acceptable approach. Health authorities in Peru should facilitate access to this approach to complement healthcare facilities-led testing efforts for COVID-19. Future research is necessary to understand the impact of self-testing in case detection and pandemic control.

Keywords: COVID-19; EPIDEMIOLOGY; PUBLIC HEALTH.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

References

    1. Zhu H, Wei L, Niu P. The novel Coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China. Glob Health Res Policy 2020;5:6. 10.1186/s41256-020-00135-6 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Munayco CV, Tariq A, Rothenberg R, et al. . Early transmission Dynamics of COVID-19 in a Southern hemisphere setting: Lima-Peru: February 29th-March 30th. MedRxiv 2020. 10.1101/2020.04.30.20077594 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Aleem A, Akbar Samad AB, Slenker AK. Emerging variants of SARS-Cov-2 and novel Therapeutics against Coronavirus (COVID-19). In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing, 2022. - PubMed
    1. National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) . Faqs about antigen self-testing for COVD-19. Available: https://subsites.chinadaily.com.cn/nmpa/2022-03/15/c_725712.htm [Accessed 7 Feb 2023].
    1. Rajan S, Cylus J, McKee M. n.d. Successful find-test-trace-isolate-support systems: how to win at snakes and ladders. Eurohealth (Lond);2020:34–9.

Publication types