HATIP: Xpert MTB/RIF for TB diagnosis: Global update
The high price of the GeneXpert platform and test is the main barrier to the sustainable scale-up of the technology.
HATIP, HIV and AIDS Treatment in Practice, is a regular electronic newsletter for health care workers and community-based organisations on HIV treatment in resource-limited settings.
HATIP is published by NAM, a community-based organisation and registered charity that supports people living and working with HIV by providing accurate, impartial, and up-to-date information about HIV/AIDS.
This edition of HATIP reviews recent implementation research on the new TB diagnostic Xpert MTB/RIF.
The new Xpert MTB/RIF assay is recommended by the World Health Organization as the first-line test for TB diagnosis in individuals suspected of having HIV-associated TB or multi-drug resistant TB. The test can diagnose TB and drug-resistant TB in two hours, so reducing delays in the initiation of appropriate TB treatment.
With support from PEPFAR, USAID, UNITAID and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation the cost of this diagnostic has been reduced to $9.98 per test cartridge for 145 low and middle-income countries. Xpert MTB/RIF is now being implemented in a wide range of settings and is becoming an important element in the care and treatment of people with HIV and TB co-infection.
This edition examines data and lessons learnt from programmes where Xpert MTB/RIF has already been implemented in high-burden TB settings in countries such as South Africa, Kenya, India, Cambodia and Botswana. These findings were presented at the 43rd Union World Conference on Lung Health in November 2012 and also at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in March 2013.
You can read the current edition here.
Source: Aidsmap
