The Government of Uganda has launched a new oral HIV test kit which is put in the mouth and a swab taken on the gums before giving results in 20 minutes.
The self-test oral fluid kit from researchers working with The Aids Support Organisation (TASO) is called OraQuick HIV kit, which costs $10 (about Shs35,000) will soon be rolled out by government, Dr. Rhoda Wanyeza, a programme director at the Ministry of Health who led the pilot research discloses.
The new oral fluid self-test kit that can only be used once requires a person to press a flat pad firmly against his/her gum and swab it along the upper and lower gum once; then put the flat pad in a tube and wait for 20 minutes.
When the red line comes to letter C, it means you are negative, while the red line moving to letter T implies HIV-positive.
Don’t eat or drink for 15 minutes before taking the test,” Prof. Wanyenze warns.
Currently only a few pharmacies sell blood-based HIV test kits in Uganda, which, like all medical devices, are not subject to quality controls.
An estimated 1.4 million people are living with HIV.
