INTRODUCTION: The African Center for Integrated Laboratory Training (ACILT) in Johannesburg, South Africa offered a laboratory biosafety program to improve laboratory biosafety practices in 22 President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) supported countries. This manuscript evaluates the transference of newly gained knowledge and skills to the participants' place of employment for HIV and TB diagnostic laboratory programs. It also serves as a follow-on to a previously published manuscript that measured training effectiveness for all courses offered at ACILT. METHODS: ACILT offered 20 Laboratory Biosafety and Infrastructure courses (2008-2014), also referred as biosafety course/course comprising of 14 core laboratory safety elements to 402 participants from 22 countries. In 2015, participants received 22 e-questions divided into four categories: (1) Safety Policies, (2) Management's Engagement, (3) Safety Programs and (4) Assessments of Safety Practices to determine retrospectively the training effectiveness of biosafety practices in their place of employment 6 months before and after attending their course. We used Kirkpatrick model to assess the transference of knowledge, skills and obstructive factors. RESULTS: 20% (81/402) of the participants completed the e-questionnaire. The overall percentage of positive responses indicating implementation of new safety practices increased from 50% to 84%. Improvement occurred in all four categories after attending the course, with the greatest increases in Safety Policies (67-94%) and Safety Programs (43-91%). Creating a safety committee, allocating resources, and establishing a facility safety policy were important drivers for implementing and maintaining laboratory safety practices. In addition, accredited laboratories and countries with national safety regulations or policies had a higher percentage of improvements. The most reported challenges were inadequate funding and lack of management enforcement. CONCLUSIONS: PEPFAR and other partners' investments in training institutions, such as ACILT, were effective in building sustainable country ownership to strengthen biosafety practices and were leveraged to combat zoonotic diseases and COVID-19. Although support continues at the national/regional level, a standardized, coordinated and continent-wide sustainable approach to offer a biosafety program-like ACILT is missing. Continuous offerings of biosafety programs similar to ACILT could contribute to sustainable strengthening of laboratory biosafety, QMS and pandemic preparedness.

INTRODUCTION: We assessed progress in HIV viral load (VL) scale up across seven sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries and discussed challenges and strategies for improving VL coverage among patients on anti-retroviral therapy (ART). METHODS: A retrospective review of VL testing was conducted in Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Tanzania, and Uganda from January 2016 through June 2018. Data were collected and included the cumulative number of ART patients, number of patients with ≥ 1 VL test result (within the preceding 12 months), the percent of VL test results indicating viral suppression, and the mean turnaround time for VL testing. RESULTS: Between 2016 and 2018, the proportion of PLHIV on ART in all 7 countries increased (range 5.7%-50.2%). During the same time period, the cumulative number of patients with one or more VL test increased from 22,996 to 917,980. Overall, viral suppression rates exceeded 85% for all countries except for Côte d'Ivoire at 78% by June 2018. Reported turnaround times for VL testing results improved in 5 out of 7 countries by between 5.4 days and 27.5 days. CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate that remarkable progress has been made in the scale-up of HIV VL testing in the seven SSA countries.

One component of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) goal to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030, is that 95% of all persons receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) achieve viral suppression.(†) Thus, testing all HIV-positive persons for viral load (number of copies of viral RNA per mL) is a global health priority (1). CDC and other U.S. government agencies, as part of the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), together with other stakeholders, have provided technical assistance and supported the cost for multiple countries in sub-Saharan Africa to expand viral load testing as the preferred monitoring strategy for clinical response to ART. The individual and population-level benefits of ART are well understood (2). Persons receiving ART who achieve and sustain an undetectable viral load do not transmit HIV to their sex partners, thereby disrupting onward transmission (2,3). Viral load testing is a cost-effective and sustainable programmatic approach for monitoring treatment success, allowing reduced frequency of health care visits for patients who are virally suppressed (4). Viral load monitoring enables early and accurate detection of treatment failure before immunologic decline. This report describes progress on the scale-up of viral load testing in eight sub-Saharan African countries from 2013 to 2018 and examines the trajectory of improvement with viral load testing scale-up that has paralleled government commitments, sustained technical assistance, and financial resources from international donors. Viral load testing in low- and middle-income countries enables monitoring of viral load suppression at the individual and population level, which is necessary to achieve global epidemic control. Although there has been substantial achievement in improving viral load coverage for all patients receiving ART, continued engagement is needed to reach global targets.

In 2017, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated that worldwide, 36.9 million persons were living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, the virus infection that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Among persons with HIV infection, approximately 75% were aware of their HIV status, leaving 9.4 million persons with undiagnosed infection (1). Index testing, also known as partner notification or contact tracing, is an effective case-finding strategy that targets the exposed contacts of HIV-positive persons for HIV testing services. This report summarizes data from HIV tests using index testing in 20 countries supported by CDC through the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) during October 1, 2016-March 31, 2018. During this 18-month period, 1,700,998 HIV tests with 99,201 (5.8%) positive results were reported using index testing. The positivity rate for index testing was 9.8% among persons aged >/=15 years and 1.5% among persons aged <15 years. During the reporting period, HIV positivity increased 64% among persons aged >/=15 years (from 7.6% to 12.5%) and 67% among persons aged <15 years (from 1.2% to 2.0%). Expanding index testing services could help increase the number of persons with HIV infection who know their status, are initiated onto antiretroviral treatment, and consequently reduce the number of persons who can transmit the virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends viral load testing as the preferred method for monitoring the clinical response of patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection to antiretroviral therapy (ART). Viral load monitoring of patients on ART helps ensure early diagnosis and confirmation of ART failure and enables clinicians to take an appropriate course of action for patient management. When viral suppression is achieved and maintained, HIV transmission is substantially decreased, as is HIV-associated morbidity and mortality. CDC and other U.S. government agencies and international partners are supporting multiple countries in sub-Saharan Africa to provide viral load testing of persons with HIV who are on ART. This report examines current capacity for viral load testing based on equipment provided by manufacturers and progress with viral load monitoring of patients on ART in seven sub-Saharan countries (Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda) during January 2015-June 2016. By June 2016, based on the target numbers for viral load testing set by each country, adequate equipment capacity existed in all but one country. During 2015, two countries tested >85% of patients on ART (Namibia [91%] and South Africa [87%]); four countries tested <25% of patients on ART. In 2015, viral suppression was >80% among those patients who received a viral load test in all countries except Cote d'Ivoire. Sustained country commitment and a coordinated global effort is needed to reach the goal for viral load monitoring of all persons with HIV on ART.

To achieve global targets for universal treatment set forth by the Joint United Nations Programme on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) (UNAIDS), viral load monitoring for HIV-infected persons receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) must become the standard of care in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) (1). CDC and other U.S. government agencies, as part of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, are supporting multiple countries in sub-Saharan Africa to change from the use of CD4 cell counts for monitoring of clinical response to ART to the use of viral load monitoring, which is the standard of care in developed countries. Viral load monitoring is the preferred method for immunologic monitoring because it enables earlier and more accurate detection of treatment failure before immunologic decline. This report highlights the initial successes and challenges of viral load monitoring in seven countries that have chosen to scale up viral load testing as a national monitoring strategy for patients on ART in response to World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations. Countries initiating viral load scale-up in 2014 observed increases in coverage after scale-up, and countries initiating in 2015 are anticipating similar trends. However, in six of the seven countries, viral load testing coverage in 2015 remained below target levels. Inefficient specimen transport, need for training, delays in procurement and distribution, and limited financial resources to support scale-up hindered progress. Country commitment and effective partnerships are essential to address the financial, operational, technical, and policy challenges of the rising demand for viral load monitoring.