GENEVA – Poorer countries are set to see their access to HIV self-tests increase dramatically following a deal to slash prices in half and boost production, Unitaid said today.
The international health agency said it had closed a deal with United States-based global healthcare company Viatris that will see blood-based HIV self-tests made available for under USD$2 (RM8.20) across 135 low and middle-income countries.
HIV self-tests are seen as vital tools to help people more easily discover their status and move towards the treatment they need, and thus also to reducing the HIV burden globally.
This is particularly relevant in poorer countries, where concerns around stigma and difficulties accessing healthcare can create significant barriers, said Unitaid, which works on innovations on major diseases.
“Access to self-tests has been recognised as a key factor in meeting the global goal of 90% of people knowing their HIV status,” Unitaid spokesman Herve Verhoosel said in a statement.
In just the past six years, that rate has nearly doubled from 45% to 81%, he said.
But achieving broader testing has been hampered by the fact that the market for HIV self-tests in low- and middle-income countries has been dominated by a single affordable oral HIV test, the OraSure.
That test is sold at cost in a limited number of poorer countries for USD$2, but elsewhere the price is higher, and other options have cost significantly more. – AFP, April 28, 2021
