Roll out of Viral Load Point of care Testing, Uganda, 2022
Author: Peter Kawungezi, Uganda Public Health Fellowship Program-Field Epidemiology Fellow, Cohort 2022, hosted at AIDS Control Program Email: pkawungezi@musph.ac.ug, Tel: +256-783-401-306
The Ministry of Health, AIDS Control Program with support from partners including United Nations Children‘s Fund (UNICEF) is planning to roll out Point of Care (POC) Viral Load (VL) testing during year 2022 starting with pregnant and breastfeeding mothers using the available testing platforms (GeneXpert and m-Pima).
This was informed by the Prevention of Mother Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) impact evaluation 2017- 2019 which showed close to half of pregnant and Breast-Feeding women did not access a viral load. This was worse among pregnant and Breastfeeding Adolescents and Young Women. Initially, the roll out will target 100 sites across the country.
Ministry of Health will continue working with partners to scale up POC VL testing services among other sub-populations.
