Category Archives: Testing
Knowledge of HIV and related best practices among non-HIV specific health care providers
Key take-home messages One Canadian and several U.S. surveys have consistently shown a lack of HIV-related knowledge, awareness of HIV-related guidelines, and failure to screen for HIV among non-HIV specific...
Injection drug use, HIV/HCV, and related services in nonurban areas of the United States: A systematic review
BACKGROUND: Injection drug use (IDU) in nonurban areas of the United States is a growing public health concern, but there has been no comprehensive assessment of existing research on injection-related...
Interventions to increase testing, linkage to care and treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among people in prisons: A systematic review
BACKGROUND: While the burden of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is significantly higher among people in prisons compared to the general population, testing and treatment uptake remain suboptimal. The...
Influence of faith-based organisations on HIV prevention strategies in Africa: A systematic review
BACKGROUND: The HIV/AIDS epidemic remains of global significance and there is a need to target sub-Saharan Africa since it is the hardest hit region worldwide. Religion and more specifically faith-based...
Analytical quality and effectiveness of point-of-care testing in community pharmacies: A systematic literature review
BACKGROUND: Point-of-care tests are characterised through the ability of conducting them near the patient’s side without the necessity of a laboratory. They can be applied in different healthcare settings to...
The cascade of care following community-based detection of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa – A systematic review with 90-90-90 targets in sight
INTRODUCTION: We aimed to establish how effective community-based HIV testing services (HTS), including home and community location based (non-health facility) HIV testing services (HB-/CLB-HTS), are in improving care in sub-Saharan...
Evaluation of blood-based antibody rapid testing for HIV early therapy: A meta-analysis of the evidence
Background: Western blot (WB) assay is considered the gold standard test for HIV infection confirmation. However, it requires technical expertise and is quite time-consuming. WHO recommends blood-based rapid diagnosis to...
Economic strengthening for HIV testing and linkage to care: A review of the evidence
Delayed HIV diagnosis and enrollment in HIV care can lead to negative health outcomes for individuals and pose major barriers to achieving the UNAIDS 90-90-90 treatment targets. Household economic strengthening...