05 May 2022

The recency HIV testing programme, implemented since February, has been hailed as a powerful tool for measuring the impact of HIV primary prevention efforts and programmes.

   The programme; Establishing HIV-1 Recent Infection Surveillance,  uses a rapid test for recent infection among those  newly diagnosed with HIV.

   It uses specific testing procedures that show how recently a person was infected with HIV in order to identify transmission hotspots.

 The programme is being  implemented at 10 sites across the country. 

  During his visit to Maun’s Letsholathebe II Memorial Hospital yesterday, US ambassador Mr Craig Cloud said he was impressed to learn that the programme was on track. 

“I am much impressed with what you are doing. Miracles are happening in Botswana and we will continue working with the ministry to push a little bit to curb the problem on the ground,” he said.

Mr Cloud hailed the programme for making it easier to provide continuous epidemiological data on the person, place and time of newly infected and newly diagnosed individuals.

 The data was useful for informing HIV prevention and control strategies, he said.

 Mr Cloud said the support offered by the embassy through the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) had helped Botswana make significant strides in the fight against HIV.

 It was through such efforts that Botswana was pegged at the top in nearing epidemic control not only in Sub-Saharan Africa but worldwide, he said.

Ambassador Cloud said the embassy would continue to support testing procedures to help identify HIV transmission hotspots in Maun.

Briefing the ambassador, Ngami District Health Management Team coordinator, Dr Sandra Maripe-Ebutswe said the programme, which started 10 weeks ago,  was being implemented at both the hospital and Tebelopele Testing Centre in Maun.

The programme’s objectives include determining the proportion of individuals with recent HIV infection among newly diagnosed HIV-positive persons and identifying geographic locations associated with recent infections.

It also aims to determine demographic characteristics and factors associated with recent HIV infections.

In terms of the study population, Dr Maripe-Ebutswe explained that the programme targeted persons aged 16 and above, those diagnosed as new positive cases and who provided verbal consent for their blood to be tested for recent HIV infection.

To date 23 people had consented to be part of the programme, she said.

 Dr Maripe-Ebutswe revealed that there was a 100 per cent response rate in implementation and that monitoring visits did not highlight any protocol deviations.

However, she decried poor Internet connectivity in some sites which made it difficult to input data. 

“We need more gadgets and proper Internet connectivity when we start rolling out phase two and three of the programme which are set to commence October this year to September 2023,” she said. Ends