Painless Capillary Blood Collection: A Rapid Evaluation of the Onflow Device.

Blood-based diagnostics are critical for many medical decisions, but mostly rely on venepuncture, which can be inconvenient and painful. The Onflow Serum Gel (Loop Medical SA, Vaud, Lausanne, Switzerland) is a novel blood collection device that utilises needle-free technology to collect capillary blood. In this pilot study, 100 healthy participants were enrolled and provided two Onflow collected specimens and one venous blood specimen.

Planning and commitment prompts to encourage reporting of HIV self-test results: A cluster randomized pragmatic trial in Tshwane District, South Africa.

Reporting of HIV self-test results to encourage linkage to HIV care for those who receive a positive test result is a common challenge faced by HIV self-testing programs. The impact of self-testing programs is diminished if individuals who obtain a self-test do not use the test or seek confirmatory testing and initiate HIV treatment following a positive result. We conducted a cluster randomized trial of two interventions designed to increase reporting of HIV self-test results: a "plan and commit" intervention that leveraged insights from behavioral economics, and an enhanced usual care version of the standard HIV self-test community distribution protocol that promoted the importance of reporting results.

Monitored Implementation of COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Screening at Taxi Ranks in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Digital tools can support community-based decentralized testing initiatives to broaden access to COVID-19 diagnosis, especially in high-transmission settings. This operational study investigated the use of antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic tests (Ag-RDTs) for COVID-19 combined with an end-to-end digital health solution, in three taxi ranks in Johannesburg, South Africa. Members of the public were eligible if they were aged ≥18 years, could read, and had a cellphone.

Assessment of the Sedia HIV Self-Test Device: Usability and Performance in the Hands of Untrained Users in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The prevalence of HIV across South Africa places a strain on testing facilities. The use of HIV self-testing (HIVST) devices has been identified as a strategy to ease the burden on these facilities. The usability and performance of the Asante HIV-1/2 Oral Self-Test (Asante) (Sedia Biosciences, Portland OR, USA) device by novice users was assessed and reported on, to inform for the implementation of such devices in South Africa and elsewhere.

Usability and Clinical Performance Characteristics of the Asante HIV1/2 Test by Trained Users in Two African Sites.

HIV self-testing (HIVST) devices are acknowledged as having the potential to enable the acceleration of HIV diagnosis and linkage to care. How efficiently professional and trained users engaged with the Asante HIV-1/2 Oral Self-Test (Asante) (Sedia Biosciences, Portland, OR, USA), and the accuracy of the device in comparison to other HIV rapid diagnostic tests (RDT), was assessed to be able to guide the development and adoption of the device in Senegal and South Africa. Using convenience sampling, potential participants were recruited from catchment areas where HIV was prevalent.

Self-Sampling for SARS-CoV-2 Diagnostic Testing by Using Nasal and Saliva Specimens: Protocol for Usability and Clinical Evaluation.

Background: SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus discovered in December 2019 and is currently the cause of the global COVID-19 pandemic. A critical aspect of fighting this pandemic is to obtain accurate and timely test results so that patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 can be identified and isolated to reduce the spread of the virus. Research has shown that saliva is a promising candidate for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics because its collection is minimally invasive and can be reliably self-administered.

A Lay-User Assessment of Hepatitis C Virus Self-Testing Device Usability and Interpretation in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Only 20% of people with hepatitis C virus (HCV) know their status. In low-income countries diagnosis is under 10%. Self-testing for HCV antibodies (HCVST) could expand the coverage of HCV testing services.