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EVALUATION OF COMMERCIAL HIV TEST KITS USED IN DETERMINING HIV STATUS IN UGANDA

The diagnosis of HIV infection has played very critical roles over the past three decades in detecting and monitoring infection as well as patient management. As technology evolved, screening, confirmatory and HIV monitoring assays have greatly improved in terms of quality and speed. Coupled with this development is the unprecedented increase in the number of test kits that are available for determining HIV status. Rapid test kits that are simple and instrument-free, are commercially available for measuring HIV antibodies. If performed properly, these tests have a sensitivity and specificity exceeding 98%. Moreover, they are also less expensive and do not require high level of technological expertise to perform or interpret and produce fewer indeterminate results.

In Uganda, screening and confirmatory tests are needed that have the following specific characteristics;- high levels of sensitivity and specificity, long shelf life, storage at ambient temperatures, reasonable cost, and ease and rapidity of performance. Accurate and reliable results are essential when testing HIV because of the implications of false positive or false negative results. For the reasons stated above, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has requested Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) to carry out an evaluation of all commercial HIV test kits available in the country in order to identify appropriate test kits for use in the country and come up with algorithms that would be used for proper and reliable HIV diagnosis. This evaluation expected to start in September 2022, would also include kits used as part of the National Algorithm.

We call upon all those vendors or manufacturers of the different kits that would wish to have their kits evaluated and recommended for use in Uganda, to submit kits to Uganda Virus Research Institute HIV reference laboratory. For the first phase of the evaluation (laboratory phase), we shall require four hundred and fifty (450) tests.

All kits that have specificity of 99% and sensitivity of 98% will be eligible for the second phase of evaluation (field phase) and the proprietors should be ready to provide two thousand tests (2000) for this phase. Please note; -

  • Submit your kits with all relevant documents and please disclose the market price of the kit by the date of submission.
  • All kits submitted must have WHO pre-qualification

Submissions should be to:

The Director

Uganda Virus Research Institute

P.O Box 49, Entebbe

Plot 51-59 Nakiwogo Road, Entebbe

For any inquiry, please write to analumansi@uvri.go.ugTel:+256 757 662735

Deadline for submission is 30th September 2022, at 5 pm

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