Preferences for rapid point-of-care HIV testing in Nova Scotia, Canada
Nathaniel M. Lewis A B , Jacqueline C. Gahagan A and Carlye Stein A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Gender and Health Promotion Studies Unit, Health Promotion Division, School of Health and Human Performance, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada.
B Corresponding author. Email: nathaniel.lewis@dal.ca
Sexual Health 10(2) 124-132 https://doi.org/10.1071/SH12100
Submitted: 30 June 2012 Accepted: 1 October 2012 Published: 1 February 2013
Abstract
Rapid point-of-care (POC) testing for HIV has been shown to increase the uptake of testing, rates of clients receiving test results, numbers of individuals aware of their status and timely access to care for those who test positive. In addition, several studies have shown that rapid POC testing for HIV is highly acceptable to clients in a variety of clinical and community-based health care settings. Most acceptability studies conducted in North America, however, have been conducted in large, urban environments where concentrations of HIV testing sites and testing innovations are greatest. Using a survey of client preferences at a sexual health clinic in Halifax, Nova Scotia, we suggest that HIV test seekers living in a region outside of Canada’s major urban HIV epicentres find rapid POC testing highly acceptable. We compare the results of the Halifax survey with existing acceptability studies of rapid POC HIV testing in North America and suggest ways in which it might be of particular benefit to testing clients and potential clients in Nova Scotia and other regions of Canada that currently have few opportunities for anonymous or rapid testing. Overall, we found that rapid POC HIV testing was highly desirable at this study site and may serve to overcome many of the challenges associated with HIV prevention and testing outside of well-resourced metropolitan environments.
Additional keywords: acceptability, access, health equity, point-of-care diagnostics.
References
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