ArticleAfrican health sciences2016
The quality of rapid HIV testing in South Africa: an assessment of testers' compliance.
Article in African health sciences, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessing the Effectiveness of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Point-of-Care Proficiency Testing Scheme: Analysis of the Data From 2021 to 2022 in South Africa.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Factors associated with accuracy of rapid HIV test performance in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.Southern African journal of HIV medicine · 2025Article
- Assessing the preparedness of primary healthcare facilities for the implementation of universal test and treat in uThukela District, South Africa: a cross-sectional study.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- Testers' compliance to the quality standards of HIV rapid testing services in Primary Health Care Facilities in Makete District, Tanzania.African health sciences · 2022Article
- The effect of a mobile-learning curriculum on improving compliance to quality management guidelines for HIV rapid testing services in rural primary healthcare clinics, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: a quasi-experimental study.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Investigating the quality of HIV rapid testing practices in public antenatal health care facilities, South Africa.PloS one · 2022Article
- Improving the quality of HIV rapid testing in Ghana using the dried tube specimen-based proficiency testing program.PloS one · 2022Article
- Findings from a novel and scalable community-based HIV testing approach to reduce the time required to complete point-of-care HIV testing in South Africa.BMC health services research · 2021Article
- Utilization of Rapid Diagnostic Testing in sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Effects on HIV Prevention.International journal of MCH and AIDS · 2021Article
- Continuous quality monitoring in the field: an evaluation of the performance of the Fio Deki Reader™ for rapid HIV testing in South Africa.BMC infectious diseases · 2020Article
- Article
- Integrating home HIV counselling and testing into household TB contact investigation: a mixed-methods study.Public health action · 2018Article
- Infections interplay with non-communicable diseases.African health sciences · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe aim of this study was to assess the quality of rapid HIV testing in South Africa.
methodA two-stage sampling procedure was used to select HCT sites in eight provinces of South Africa. The study employed both semi-structured interviews with HIV testers and observation of testing sessions as a means of data collection. In total, 63 HCT sites (one HIV tester per site) were included in the survey assessing qualification, training, testing practices and attitudes towards rapid tests. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data was content analysed.
resultsOf the 63 HIV testers, 20.6% had a nursing qualification, 14.3% were professional counsellors, 58.7% were lay HIV counsellors and testers and 6.4% were from other professions. Most HIV testers (87.3%) had had a formal training in testing, which ranged between 10-14 days, while 6 (9.5%) had none. Findings revealed sub-standard practices in relation to testing. These were mainly related to non-adherence to testing algorithms, poor external quality control practices, poor handling and communication of discordant results.
conclusionQuality of HIV rapid testing may be highly compromised through poor adherence to guidelines as observed in our study.
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Registered trials
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