Improving and expanding self-testing for health equity

The availability of self-tests for detecting diseases like COVID-19, HIV, and hepatitis C is changing the nature of individual and health provider relationships. These tests enable individuals to take charge of managing their own health and can reduce barriers to accessing diagnostics.

Self-testing has the potential to advance health equity and speed progress toward universal health coverage. But because self-testing is typically performed outside of traditional testing services, it is meeting resistance from policymakers in a range of countries.  Additionally, as the pandemic has highlighted, unequal access to self-tests can exacerbate health inequities. To increase confidence in the efficacy of self-testing, including proper follow up, trust must be established between manufacturers, patients, and ministries of health.

In this PATH Live Forum, speakers will discuss the challenges in making COVID-19 self-tests available, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. They will also share lessons learned from self-testing for other disease areas, such as HIV and Hepatitis C, and explore how these lessons can be applied to close existing access and use gaps to transform healthcare.

SPEAKERS
In-Chul Chung, BA, Head of IVD/MDx Business Division, SD Biosensor
Betty Mirembe, MD, MBA, Uganda Country Director, PATH
Fifa A. Rahman, LLB, MHL, PhD, Civil Society Representative on the Diagnostics Pillar and Facilitation Council, ACT-Accelerator on the COVID-19 Global Response; Principal Consultant, Matahari Global Solutions; Special Advisor, Health Poverty Action
Mariana Villares, MS, Team Lead on STIs, HIV and Viral Hepatitis, Ministry of Health of Brazil
Kimberly Green, PhD, Global Program Director, Primary Health Care, PATH (moderator)