Dual HIV/syphilis rapid diagnostic tests can be used as the first test in antenatal care
27 November 2019
| Policy brief

Overview
WHO recommends that pregnant women receive testing for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B (HBSAg) at least once during pregnancy, preferably in the first trimester.
Dual HIV/syphilis rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) can be used as the first test for pregnant women as part of antenatal care (ANC).
These simple tests can be used at the point-of-care and are cost-saving compared to standard testing in ANC. They enable more women to be diagnosed with HIV and syphilis so that they can access treatment and prevent transmission to their children.
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Web annexes
- Annex A - GRADE Table: Which demand creation approaches are effective for increasing uptake of HIV testing and onward linkage to prevention, treatment and care? (PDF, 654 KB)
- Annex B - GRADE Table: Should HIV self-testing be offered as an additional HIV testing approach? (PDF, 619 KB)
- Annex C - GRADE Table: Should social network-based approaches be offered as an additional HIV testing approach for key populations and their contacts? (PDF, 437 KB)
- Annex D - GRADE Table: Should western blotting and line immunoassays be used in national testing strategies and algorithms? (PDF, 665 KB)
- Annex E - Abstract: Performance of HIV testing strategies: considerations for global guideline development (PDF, 299 KB)
- Annex F - Abstract: Modelling the cost-effectiveness of maternal HIV retesting in high- and low-HIV burden settings (PDF, 388 KB)
- Annex G - Abstract: Modelling the cost-effectiveness of using HIV/syphilis dual tests in antenatal care in high and low HIV burden settings (PDF, 240 KB)
- Annex H - Considerations for monitoring HIV testing services programmes (PDF, 253 KB)
- Annex I - In vitro diagnostics for HIV diagnosis (PDF, 313 KB)
- Annex J- Ensuring the quality of HIV testing services (PDF, 276 KB)
- Annex K - Global examples of HIV testing services (PDF, 1.7 MB)
- Annex L - Symptom and risk-based screening to optimize HIV testing services: a scoping review (PDF, 727 KB)
Editors
WHO
Number of pages
4
Reference numbers
WHO Reference Number: WHO/CDS/HIV/19.38