Special webinar to present issues and lessons learned from HIV Self-testing product introduction and use cases and update on global HIVST market.
Organizers/partners
- WHO Global HIV, Hepatitis and STIs Programs
- Unitaid
- ATLAS Project and STAR Initiative
Objectives
- Case studies from selected countries for multiple HIVST product introduction based on the experience gained by the STAR Initiative
- Updates on the global HIVST market, products, price and market intelligence;
- WHO HIVST update and forecasting
- HIVST global funding and investment
Agenda
28 November 2022 | 15:30-17:00 CET (14:30-16:00 UTC)
French interpretations will be available.
Moderator: Unitaid
- Welcome Unitaid
- Introduction to the session - Cheryl Johnson, WHO
- Updates from global HIV Self-testing product market and pricing - Aayush Solanki, PSI/STAR Initiative
- WHO updates on HIVST policy and guidance - Muhammad Jamil, WHO
- Uganda: Country experience on introducing multiple HIVST products through a total market approach - Geoffrey Taasi, MOH Uganda
- HIVST in the next Global Fund NFM4 grant - David Maman, The Global Fund
- Discussions - Chairs Unitaid
Background
Self-testing is a vital tool to help people to learn about their HIV status, offering individuals a pathway to accessing treatment and effective HIV prevention interventions. There are currently 6 WHO prequalified HIV self-test kits, 5 blood based and one oral fluid test, contributing to market competition and resulting in substantial price reductions, making HIVST kits potentially affordable for out-of-pocket purchase by individuals in low -and middle -income countries (LMIC).
Evidence has highlighted that user preferences for HIVST products vary, and overall uptake can increase by offering users options. The market for HIVST is constantly evolving, both in terms of new products and pricing. Despite the range of products, to date, scale-up of HIVST with a mix of oral-fluid/blood-based products has been limited in LMIC.
Ensuring that product selection for scale-up is a rational process that carefully considers both blood and oral fluid test options, taking into account costs and cost-effectiveness, requires sensitization of MoHs, national laboratories and regulatory officials on all the available evidence for the different products, product introduction and information on the HIVST market. This is particularly important in the context of larger investments in HIVST for scale up.
The Unitaid STAR Initiative and ATLAS projects have been working with national stakeholders on the introduction of various quality assured blood-based and oral fluid tests and supported the transition to HIVST scale up across 16 countries in Africa and Asia.