Optimising courier specimen collection time improves patient access to HIV viral load testing in South Africa.

Background: South Africa uses a courier network for transporting specimens to public laboratories. After the daily collection of specimens from the facility by the courier, patients not yet attended to are unlikely to receive same-day blood draws, potentially inhibiting access to viral load (VL) testing for HIV patients.

Objective: We aimed to design an optimised courier network and assess whether this improves VL testing access.