As part of the HIV Self-Test, Free to Access Awareness of Your Status (ATLAS) project, 203,407 self-testing kits have been provided to vulnerable populations in Côte d’Ivoire, the initiators announced on Friday. April 22, 2022, on the occasion of the deliberation and closing workshop of this project which will have lasted 4 years.
In Côte d’Ivoire, since 2019, the ATLAS project, in collaboration with the national AIDS program and 8 partners from civil society, has supported the introduction of HIV self-testing (ADVIH) in 7 regions health and its integration into national screening strategies.
Dr Kouamé Blaise, Head of the HIV screening service at the National Program for the Fight against AIDS, was delighted with the success of this campaign which, according to him, has enabled a large number of people to find out their HIV status by practicing their own test.
“We realized that with the classic screening strategy there are some people we couldn’t reach, in particular men aged 25 and over, key populations, namely sex workers, men who have sex with men, drug users and transgender populations. It was important for us to find another strategy that could reach them so that these people are tested and know their HIV status. It is in this context that we have integrated self-screening into our screening policies and that we have supported the implementation of the ATLAS project”, revealed Dr Kouamé Blaise, while specifying that these people represent approximately 30% of people screened since the beginning of the project, reassuring on the continuity of the dispensation of ADVIH beyond the end of the ATLAS project.
For Olivier Geoffroy, President of SOLTHIS Côte d’Ivoire, the structure that led the project in Côte d’Ivoire, in view of the scientific data collected and the effective adoption of ADVIH by both health professionals and target populations, this strategy proves to be an acceptable, effective and complementary alternative to conventional screening.
“Healthcare professionals and patients have a favorable attitude towards ADVIH because it meets the needs of some patients in terms of preference on the choice of time and place for the performance of the test and it allows partners to avoid having to physically travel to the health center. One of the particularities of this project is to opt for a “secondary” dispensation of ADVIH. This model aims to give ADVIH kits to key populations already in contact with prevention and screening programs so that they redistribute them within their network (sex partner, pairs, clients): [NDLR] », declared the first manager of SOLTHIS Côte d’Ivoire.
He also urged the Ivorian health authorities to work to strengthen the integration of HIV self-testing in STI care services in Côte d’Ivoire which, with 11,515 ADVIH dispensed, has a fairly low rate on the duration of the project.
According to Olivier Geoffroy, current investments remain insufficient to cover the ADVIH needs identified by the national strategic plan for the fight against AIDS (PSN), i.e. approximately 1.3 million Kits for the period 2023-2025.
“A greater investment of technical and financial partners in the ADVIH is necessary in order to accelerate the achievement of the first 95 in Côte d’Ivoire”, he will say.
Implemented by the consortium formed by Solidarité Thérapeutique et Initiatives pour la Santé (SOLTHIS) and the Research Institute for Development (IRD), in partnership with the Ministries of Health of the countries concerned (Mali, Senegal and Côte d’ Ivoire) and financed by Unitaid to the tune of more than 15 million dollars, with additional financing from AFD, the ATLAS project aims mainly to increase the offer of screening in order to control the HIV epidemic by 2030. .
PR