Scientists at the National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) are undertaking a study to determine the accuracy of an oral saliva test for HIV infection. The easy-to-use and cost-effective test will help increase HIV screening rates and also enable early diagnosis of the disease.
The scientific committee of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has given their nod for NARI to continue with the project.  “The HIV oral saliva self-test is an indigenous one and we are validating how good these tests are,” Dr Samiran Panda, director of NARI, told the media. Just like a pregnancy test kit, the confirmatory diagnosis is done later in this test.
But the important aspect of the pregnancy test kit is that the control is in the woman’s hand. Likewise, people, who still feel there is a stigma attached to being detected with HIV, will find it easier to conduct the initial self-test, Dr Panda added.
“These tests are available in the US and France and what we are doing at NARI is to examine the performance of an indigenously developed oral saliva test for HIV infection. At the same time, qualitative studies will be undertaken to find out the acceptability rate among people. This study will take at least three months to complete,” he said.
According to the data, it is estimated that 21.40 lakh people with HIV are living in India. The HIV incidence per 1,000 uninfected people is estimated to have declined from 0.64 in 1995 to 0.07 in 2017. Prevention of new HIV infections continues to be the mainstay of India’s national AIDS response. But, the pace of the decline is slow. ICMR officials point out that when people living with or at risk of HIV are discriminated, they feel outcasted. This poses a huge challenge to find people for testing, treatment and prevention.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/now-an-oral-test-to-detect-hiv-nari-study-to-assess-accuracy-5468211/

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