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Pharmacies may offer option for rapid HIV testing
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Community-based pharmacies can be effective locations for offering rapid HIV testing, diagnosing HIV, and connecting those who test positive with medical care quickly, according to study results published online.
Yvette Calderon, MD, MS, professor of clinical emergency medicine at Jacobi Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, Bronx, N.Y., and colleagues formed partnerships with five community-based pharmacies in the Bronx and Manhattan areas to test hard-to-reach, high-risk individuals.
Public health advocates (PHAs) were trained to approach people in the pharmacies and on the sidewalks outside to offer HIV testing. When an individual agreed, the PHA would administer the rapid HIV test.
While waiting for the results, the PHAs asked the participants to fill out an HIV-risk factor and test satisfaction questionnaire, and then counseled them about HIV-risk reduction behavior based on their answers.
During 294 testing days, 2,030 people agreed to HIV testing, six of whom tested positive, and five of the six agreed to accompany the PHA to an HIV clinic.
Further testing revealed that the patients’ median CD4 count was 622 cells/mL, which indicated the patients were diagnosed at a relatively early stage of infection, the researchers said.
“Our results demonstrate that pharmacies can effectively supplement the current health care system for HIV testing, especially in some of our lower-income communities” Calderon said in a press release. “They could become an important component of an extended network for informing more people to their HIV status and bringing them into care.”
Yvette Calderon, MD, MS, can be reached at Jacobi Medical Center, 1400 Pelham Parkway South, New York, NY 10461; email: Yvette.Calderon@nbtn.net.
Disclosure: The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for HIV Priority Population Testing and Gilead Sciences Inc. underwrote the grant for this project. The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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