Better HIV, AIDS test kit launched

Ms Sickler, Director Global Product’s strategy Zyomyx and Dr. Maurice Siminyu, Minister for Health Busia County at MYT4 demonstration (Photo: Govedi Asutsa)

By Fredrick Obura

NAIROBI, KENYA: Kenya on Thursday witnessed the launch of a revolutionary test kit for CD4 cells taking the management of HIV/AIDS to a new level.

Health experts need to know the status of CD4 cells in patients to begin administering treatment a factor that has been slowed due to scarcity of tool kits.

Launched in Nairobi on Thursday, the new kit also known as MYT4 uses solar energy making it scalable to remote parts of the country which are cut off from electricity supply.

“Knowing CD4 cells status is the first step towards treatment of HIV, at 40 per cent nearly half of patients in Africa, Kenya included have limited access to low cost technologies to enable them start treatment in time resulting in most deaths,” says Ms Joana Sickler, Director Global Product’s strategy Zyomyx

“What we have launched is a simple low cost box for testing CD4 cells, results from blood samples are known within 10 minutes of the test,” she said in an interview. The tool kit is designed for Kenya’s remote clinics where ARV can go.

KEMRI has already evaluated the tool kit and clinical trials have already been carried out in countries such as South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Uganda.

Today according to the Clinton Health Access Initiative over 40 per cent of HIV patients in Africa have limited access to CD4 testing.

Conventional CD4 tests are done on flow cytometers, which are designed for large labs with continuous electricity, refrigeration, and detailed sample preparation and quality control.

Most health facilities cannot support the capital cost, infrastructure and human resource requirements for a flow cytometer, so CD4 testing is provided by transporting samples from clinics to central labs for testing on a flow cytometer, then sending the results back to the clinic.

Patients have to return to the clinic to get results, which can take weeks or months to be available, and often the samples, results or patients are lost from the system so the patient never receives the result. Clinton Health Access Initiative data indicates that 46 per cent of tests are not matched with a patient for clinical decisions making.

“We target health centers across the country and looking out to sell the kit in East and Central Africa in the coming years to reach thousands of HIV patients,” she said.