Table 3.
Quotations illustrating level of enthusiasm and readiness for scale-up
| Kenya | “you have to think very carefully how … before you even scale up, what are you scaling up? Is it a service? Is it a kit? Is it an opportunity to make decisions, and who is the target population?” (Academic) “We need to look at all avenues so that people can access testing services at the moment … we think that the introduction of self-testing in this country is going to actually help us to achieve that target (80%) … The more we test the more we are able to identify and the more we are able to link to care and treatment. So that is what we are looking for.” (Government) |
| Malawi | “In my own thinking I would probably think that the country may not be ready, but it does not mean that we cannot do anything about it” (Government) “It has to be ready, we have no choice we have to be ready (for self-testing scale-up) … because infrastructure is in place and people are there, they can be oriented and the public can be motivated to say ‘ok I also need to do that, I don't want to go to the hospital for a test … let me do it alone then once I find out I can start going to another level of care’” (Government) “I think the levels of acceptance are still low that's why we still have stigma and discrimination in relation to people living with HIV. It becomes a big issue if we just say, ‘today everyone can just test himself or herself’ … (Malawi) is not yet ready but we can prepare it to get ready.” (Government) |
| South Africa | “I think so! The government's response at least on a political level is at least well informed and is open to what proves to work. There is a very sound and realistic sense of what should be done to address the issue of HIV. I think there is government will, I don't know if there is money but on a political level I guess they will be close to introducing this … ” (NGO) “Every South African should be tested at least once a year … we need to have various approaches of reaching people, innovative and yet user friendly” (Government) |