Diagnosis and promotion of serostatus awareness in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Summary: Evaluation of novel and cost-effective strategies to increase HIV testing and linkage to care among women, men and couples is a key priority for sub-Saharan Africa, to link HIV positive individuals to care, including antiretroviral therapy (ART) for clinical and prevention benefits, and HIV-negative individuals to prevention strategies. To date, HIV counseling and testing (HCT) uptake through facility-based HCT has been low, with logistic, convenience and confidentiality concerns reported as barriers. Mobile and home-based HCT strategies address these barriers and achieve high population-level coverage of HCT and linkage to care and reach target groups such as men who are not otherwise tested. To achieve wide-spread knowledge of HIV serostatus, which is the corner-stone for evidence based HIV prevention, a combination of HCT strategies is likely necessary to engage women, men, couples and young people in HIV care and prevention.