| Autor: |
Mashauri FM; National Institute for Medical Research, Mwanza Research Centre, P.O Box 14 62, Mwanza, Tanzania. mashauri@hotmail.com, Siza JE, Temu MM, Mngara JT, Kishamawe C, Changalucha JM |
| Jazyk: |
angličtina |
| Zdroj: |
Tanzania health research bulletin [Tanzan Health Res Bull] 2007 May; Vol. 9 (2), pp. 110-4. |
| DOI: |
10.4314/thrb.v9i2.14312 |
| Abstrakt: |
Tanzania is currently implementing the antiretroviral treatment programme, and has a target of putting about 400,000 eligible HIV infected individuals on treatment by 2008. This will involve screening a large number of people, which will require non-laboratory personnel to be involved in doing HIV testing. In order to guarantee reliable and quality HIV test results, there is a need to ensure that quality assurance (QA) procedures are followed from specimen collection, testing and reporting of results. In light of the above a survey was conducted to assess QA in HIV testing in health facilities in Lake Victoria zone, Tanzania. A total of 89 health facilities (29 hospitals, 34 health centres, 9 dispensaries and 17 voluntary and counselling testing centres) were surveyed. Only three (10.3%) health facilities reported performing Uniform II ELISA for HIV diagnosis. All other health facilities reported to be using HIV rapid tests Capillus and Determine. Five (5.6%) of health facility laboratories performed CD4 counts. Internal quality control (IQC) were performed in 21 (63.6%) of the hospitals. Kits for HIV testing were reported to be readily available by 54 (60.7%) of the facilities. Only 16 (18%) of the health facilities had standard operating procedures in place. Systems of equipment calibration were reported by 13 (14.6%) of the health facilities. Counselling services were available in all health facilities and all counsellors had received the 6-week mandatory training course. These findings show that most of health facilities in the Lake Victoria zone do not adhere to QA procedures in HIV testing. There is therefore, a need to establish a monitoring system to laboratories performing HIV testing for the purpose of ensuring QA procedures are done. Personnel doing HIV testing should be re-trained at a regular basis to cope with new techniques and ensure QA procedures are followed. |
| Databáze: |
MEDLINE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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