More than 5,000 patients on ARTs have benefited from a viral load in Guinea thanks to the OPP-ERA project
The participatory workshop organized by Solthis and the Ministry of Health allowed to share the first promising results of the project and its prospects for the coming years
29 March 2016 | Informations
GUINEACAPACITY BUILDINGHEALTH PRODUCTS AND PHARMACEUTICAL SYSTEMHUMAN RESOURCES FOR HEALTHSTRENGTHENING SYSTEMS AND HEALTH SERVICESFighting HIV / AIDS
Solthis, in collaboration with the National Programme against HIV (PNPCSP), organized a workshop to share the results and prospects of the OPP-ERA project, a project to improve access to viral load in Guinea. It was held in Conakry on March 23 and 24 2016, in the presence of Professor Christine Rouzioux (ANRS).
The OPP-ERA project, implemented by Solthis in Guinea, has introduced for the first time free access to viral load in Guinea’s public health system and its access was maintained during the Ebola crisis.
To date in Guinea, more than 5,000 patients on antiretroviral treatment have benefited from a measure of HIV viral load and ¾ of these patients are in treatment success.
A hundred persons attended this interactive workshop led by Solthis and its national partners.
The exchanges between clinicians, patients, laboratory technologists and institutionals allowed to identify improvements’ possibilities to further enhance the prescription of viral load, which is a critical monitoring for patients under antiretroviral treatment. The workshop also addressed the practical use of this viral load tests: results’ interpretation and decision to strengthen the compliance and / or adaptation of the treatment.
This workshop has been the opportunity both to show promising early results of this project but also to identify the improvements that will allow more patients to benefit from this test, particularly in the context of the decentralization of HIV management in Guinea.
The OPP-ERA project aims to improve monitoring of people living with HIV through free access to viral load (VL) and diagnosis of infants. It also aims to open the new VL technology market to providers through the model of “Open Polyvalent Platforms (OPP),” and thus reduce the cost of test and increase its access for infected patients.
Financed by UNITAID, the OPP-ERA project is co-financed and implemented by a consortium of French partners – Expertise France, ANRS, Sidaction and Solthis – in 4 countries: Burundi, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea since March 2013.
The media talk about it
- A round table was conducted on March 24 to be broadcasted in the show “Health +” on the public channel RTG during which intervened Pr. Christine Rouzioux (ANRS), Pr. Mohamed CISSE (Donka Hospital), Dr. William BRETON (Solthis Paris) and Penda Diallo (Solthis Guinea)
- AfricaGuinee.com “the NGO Solthis at the forefront of the fight against HIV / AIDS in Guinea” (article in French )
- AfricaGuinee.com “‘Fight against AIDS in Guinea, the NGO Solthis exchange with health experts ” (article in French )
Official website of the OPP-ERA project : http://opp-era.org/en
