eSwatini has one of the highest burdens of HIV in the world. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) teams introduced HIV self-testing in 2016, with the aim of empowering patients so they can conduct HIV testing at their own place and at their convenience.
The self-testing kit is a tool enabling the patient to screen for HIV and then go to a health facility to confirm their HIV status. This is empowering to the patient as they are in full control of their testing experience.
On inception of the HIV self-testing initiative, both urban and rural populations were targeted with education, along with the HIV self-testing kits. Patients were given a choice of conducting a test without assistance or with on-site counselling assistance.
This was done with the integration of educational awareness sessions aimed at encouraging better health-seeking behaviour, by explaining the effectiveness of the self-testing kits. For those who opted to test at home without assistance, follow-up appointments were made to ascertain the results and provide referrals for treatment and care as needed.
Patients who had tested HIV-negative were referred to more preventative measures such as, access to condoms, and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PreP), whereas patients who screened HIV-positive were referred to the nearest hospital for the confirmatory HIV test and antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation.
The feedback received from the community revealed that some patients preferred self-referrals, meaning they would refer themselves to their preferred health facility when they require further treatment and care. However, this compromised the quality of the post-test counselling to the patients and the time taken before the patient was able to access the relevant services.
Digitalising a self-test tool
Realising the need to reduce contact with health workers during HIV testing, but still provide an exceptional HIV self-testing patient experience, in October 2022 MSF adapted the “Pocket Clinic”, a digitally supported approach to HIV testing. This innovative tool positions around the needs of patients as it offers both pre- and post-testing counselling digitally, using a tablet.
The patients are guided throughout the HIV self-testing journey while they watch self-explanatory videos orienting them on what HIV is, why testing for HIV matters, and what is next when one tests HIV-negative or positive.
As part of its first phase, the Pocket Clinic is currently offered on-site and can be equally effective online and offline.
“Before Pocket Clinic, we were not really able to assist patients after taking a HIV self-test kit, but the Pocket Clinic allows us to effectively refer and offer the necessary support after testing. Also, a patient would have to wait for us to finish assisting other patients, however with Pocket Clinic, I am able to assist more that one patient at a time. All I have to do is register then monitor a patient, otherwise they are able to do everything independently,” says Ivy Nxumalo, MSF counsellor in Shiselweni, eSwatini.
With proximity to patients being one of the values MSF upholds, the Pocket Clinic is available in both urban and rural settings. To provide an ideal support for patients in rural communities, it is mobile, and can be accessed by patients in various hotspots on different days. Should the need arise, communities are still free to reach out to MSF teams requesting services during community campaigns.
The Pocket Clinic currently benefits around nine patients a day and about 135 patients have used it in the first month.
The Pocket Clinic adds to some of the few already employed digital initiatives in MSF’s Eswatini projects, ensuring ease and improved patient service provision.
Issued by MSF