Webinar: WHO recommendations for HIV testing services

Context

HIV testing services are a unique opportunity for people diagnosed with HIV infection to start treatment quickly to regain their health. They also identify people at higher risk of contracting HIV and provide immediate access to the effective package of recommended prevention services.

The planning of testing strategies should include an analysis of the epidemiological characteristics of the infection, the most affected populations, the barriers to access to services, and the search for interventions that bring these services closer together and make testing more efficient.

HIV self-testing is one of the innovations that provide the possibility of reaching those who otherwise do not have access to testing, as it provides a discreet, convenient, and empowering way to get tested. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends HIV self-testing as an additional method of delivering HIV testing services. The evidence obtained to date has highlighted its role as a key strategy to increase the acceptance and frequency of use of tests in population groups that are not reached by existing services.

Also included in the WHO recommendations for HIV testing services is the dual HIV syphilis test, among the benefits and advantages expected to be obtained with the double RDTs of HIV and syphilis are the simplification of purchasing processes, the reduction of storage space, the simplification of the training of health personnel, a single prick in a single finger, shorter deadlines to receive the results and start treatment, a double opportunity to link people with diagnostic algorithms in a context where syphilis is on the rise and there is a curative treatment.

This webinar aims to bring the WHO's recommendations closer, but also to highlight the work that communities and ministries of health have been doing in our Region and to seek dialogue and clearing up doubts to accelerate the implementation of the HIV response.