Faster Project of the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), an NGO, has advocated for the adoption of an HIV self-testing kit as an effective strategy in scaling-up HIV testing, especially for children and adolescents.
Dr Chizoba Mbanefo, Project Director, CRS, while speaking at the one-day symposium on HIV Self- testing Programming (HIVST) in Nigeria, organised by Faster Project with the theme “HIVST Programming in Nigeria- The Journey so far”, said the two-year programme from 2019 to 2021 was designed to accelerate progress in paediatric HIV diagnosis and treatment in four countries.
She said the countries – Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia – were identified due to their high unmet need for child and adolescent antiretroviral therapy (ART).
The Director said the HIV Self- testing services was one of the innovative strategies and approach required to increase uptake of HIV testing services, especially for a population with low access and higher risk of HIV.
“Nigeria is one of the leading countries in terms of HIV burden, so the programme was fashioned to increase access for children and adolescents who have HIV,” she said.
She highlighted some of its achievements to include; demand creation and service delivery, where FASTER, distributed 100,000 HIV self-test kits to clients across 282 service delivery such as health facilities, community pharmacies, traditional birth attendance, among others.
She added that the project was implemented in conjunction with the US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) in seven states, including the FCT.
On her part, Mrs Sabina Aiki, a Senior Scientific Officer, Department of National AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) Federal Ministry of Health, noted that it was very imperative for Nigeria to review its policy on HIV self-testing.
She said that updated guidelines on HIV self-testing would redirect individuals mind who might want to carry out the test, adding that the guidelines introduce in 2018 was long overdue for review.
Mr Harry Omoakhia, the brand manager, Oraquick HIV self-test kit, stated that his organisation had been undertaking the moderation of self-test kit for the past few years and had yielded good results for people who had used it.
According to him, out of the 100, 000 kit his organisation have distributed, 99 per cent who collected the test kits have used it, stressing that ability to reach a wide audience is one of the advantages of the test kit.
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