US has defective HIV test kits in African countries :: Kenya

Two US state agencies have recognized inaccurate HIV testing in Kenya and several African countries.

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The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), however, state that inaccuracies are few and have minimal effects on affected populations.

US agencies reacted to the charity's reports; Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), which featured prominent HIV test kits in Kenya and four other African countries, had failed critical quality tests.

In a detailed reply published two weeks ago, the United States re-analyzed the data against the others in the project areas mentioned and concluded that the inaccuracies were not significant.

The MSF report, which caused a stir last year in the global health community, indicated that seven out of eight major rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) had not reached the critical threshold of HIV / AIDS. World Health Organization (WHO).

The study indicated that kits used in Kenya, Guinea, Uganda, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo had failed tests despite being certified by WHO.

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"Most of the kits gave poorer results than those of the WHO, with only one test (STAT-PAK) meeting the recommended thresholds," said MSF senior author Cara S Kosack.

MSF undertook the assessment after finding cases of misdiagnosis of HIV in their programs in the five countries; areas in which US agencies also support AIDS projects.

The evaluation was also conducted at a time when WHO and its partners cited increasing cases of misdiagnosis of HIV, reaching up to 10.5% in some African countries.

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"The US President's Emergency Plan for the Fight Against AIDS (PEPFAR) is working in five of the sites analyzed in the MSF study," states the US response published on August 31, 2018 in the Journal of International AIDS Society . The answer, which the authors state as a work of the US government, indicates that they analyzed MSF's initial data with their own information in the five sites.

"The evaluation shows some variation in the accuracy of diagnostic kits (algorithms), but this has only a very small effect at the population level," the Americans concluded.

While minimizing the extent of inaccuracies, the Americans have recognized that the consequences of misdiagnosis of HIV "are serious for those affected and health systems."

While a representative of the African Union of Addis Ababa was involved in the analysis of the United States, none of the five African governments has ever publicly responded to the findings of the United States. MSF. Our efforts to get an answer from the director of medical services, Dr. Jackson Kioko, were answered.

But last year, Dr. Kioko defended the kits: "Let me clarify that all health products in this country are duly evaluated and registered prior to their adoption into the national protocols for diagnosis and treatment," did he declare.

Meanwhile, the Americans say that it is not possible to eliminate all the inaccuracies, but that they can be reduced.

"PEPFAR recommends that all countries use pre-qualified RDTs by WHO as part of recommended strategies and guidelines for HIV testing."

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Since the MSF study, the situation has changed in Kenya, as the government introduced HIV self-tests.