By Shannon Rosenberg & Patrick Aylward
PSI just launched the report “Expanding Access to HIV Self-Testing: A Market Development Approach.” This report is the result of the exciting work PSI is doing to understand and develop the HIV self-testing (HIVST) market.
With support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, PSI analyzed the size of the HIVST market in nine African countries: Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The project also examined global supply constraints and made recommendations to develop a healthy HIVST market. With its focus on market sizing and understanding global supply constraints, the analysis serves as a complement to other HIVST projects including the UNITAID/PSI HIV Self-Testing AfRica project (STAR), the largest evaluation of HIV self-testing in Africa to date.
PSI’s comprehensive research examines the current and potential market for HIVST, including the demand and supply constraints from the perspective of manufacturers. This analysis was based on critical questions using PSI’s market development approach. We asked: Who is the current HIV testing market failing and how can HIVST address issues of access and affordability? What actions do we, the global HIV community, need to take to ensure a healthy HIVST market develops? PSI answers these questions and many more in the newly published report.
New strategies and technologies will be needed if we are going to meet the first UNAIDS 90-90-90 target that 90% of people living with HIV know their status by 2020. Today, we’re at 60% and what got us here won’t get us to 90%. Empowering users and putting rapid diagnostic HIV self-tests in the hands of consumers will be an important part of scaling-up to reach that goal.
Learn how by reading the report at: staging.psi-2017.flywheelsites.com/publication/expanding-access-to-hiv-self-testing-mda/
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This article is part of an ongoing conversation about #MakingMarketsWork in Impact Magazine No. 22 “Are We Thinking Big Enough” issue. Join in the conversation with @PSIImpact.