Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Makerere University is conducting a survey in Kasensero, Rakai district to establish the acceptability of the HIV self-test kits among the fishing community.
Makerere University School of Public Health based researcher, Dr. Joseph Matovu who is leading the study says that they have given out a small number of kits to understand if they are acceptable to the community.
“We availed 298 kits through peer-leaders and each peer-leader was given up to 10 kits to see if people would like them. We told them to distribute them to people within their networks”, he said adding that they started by training the leaders on how to use and interpret the results.
Since July when they distributed the kits, Matovu says preliminary results indicate they might be acceptable.
Matovu says the peers were given one directive that they should tell the users to refer to the guidelines in the leaflets inside the packet.
“The results are easy to read. It’s as simple as using the pregnancy test kit. If one sees two red lines on its screen, then one is HIV-positive. If there is only one red line, it means one is HIV-negative. It’s as simple as that, and results show in 20 minutes”, he says.
According to Matovu, the study which is done in collaboration with the Rakai Health Sciences Program in Kyotera district seeks to give options for men who shun going to the facility to do HIV test.
Last week, the Ministry of Health launched the kit although they have not yet stocked them in public facilities. At private pharmacies, the kit goes for 25,000 shillings.
Ever since the launch, HIV activists have been calling for more information about the use of the device as some worry that it may not be properly used by some people especially that previously HIV testing was being done after a health worker counselling the individual on the expectations and how to handle the outcomes of the test.
But, Matovu who is also a behaviour science expert says while counselling is helpful when it comes to HIV, the kit is packaged with a lot of pictures and illustrations which provide a lot of information which would be provided by a counsellor.
A prior study conducted by Makerere University in Entebbe, Mpigi and Nakaseke found that the kit is more acceptable among men as compared to asking them to go for HIV testing at the health facility.
