First OPP-ERA workshop to improve the follow-up of people living with HIV

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Published on 26/06/2015
Health and human development
FIGHT AGAINST PANDEMICS
Cote d'Ivoire
Biological tests, especially the viral load tests, are necessary to ensure a quality follow-up of people living with HIV. A first workshop was organised within the framework of the OPP-ERA project in Côte d'Ivoire, by the National AIDS Programme and the OPP-ERA - Expertise France team, from the 10th to the 12th of June 2015 in Abidjan.

First OPP-ERA workshop to improve the follow-up of people living with HIV

The workshop gathered over 40 clinicians, biologists, laboratory technicians and patients’ representatives. It was an opportunity to review the needs in terms of viral load for the 125,000 patients benefitting from antiretroviral treatment in Côte d'Ivoire [1].


The workshop also gave the opportunity to conduct the first assessment on the OPP-ERA project results:

  • In 2014, the Cedres and the CePref, the two OPP-ERA supported laboratories, did over 5,000 tests within a 5-month period, i.e. 50% of HIV viral load activity in Côte d'Ivoire;
  • In 2015, OPP-ERA will do over 14,000 viral load tests in the country.

The OPP-ERA workshops are an opportunity to reinforce dialogue on viral load access between laboratories and clinicians, in close collaboration with national AIDS programmes. In the next few months, workshops will be held in the other OPP-ERA project countries: Cameroon, Guinea and Burundi.

The OPP-ERA project, funded by UNITAID, is implemented by Expertise France, in collaboration with ANRS, Solthis, and Sidaction. It aims at improving access to viral load tests in countries with limited resources.


By Mélanie Samson
June 2015

[1] In 2014, less than 7% of these patients had access to this follow-up.

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