About this Research Topic
The World Health Organization(WHO) released the first “Consolidated guideline on self-care interventions for health: sexual and reproductive health and rights”, in 2019 and the first normative guideline on HIV self-testing in 2016. WHO defines self-care as the ability of individuals, families, and communities to promote and maintain health, prevent diseases, and cope with illness with or without the support of a healthcare provider. When made accessible and affordable, self-care can improve autonomy, awareness, and decision-making around sexual and reproductive health and rights. HIV self-testing, being the first step in the HIV care continuum, presents an enormous opportunity to close the HIV testing gaps and achieve the global 95:95:95 fast-track target set by UNAIDS and adopted by many national governments. The foundation laid by HIV self-testing research, country implementation experiences, learnings and adaptations, has paved the way for the expansion into other self-testing and self-care approaches such as HPV, viral hepatitis-C, STIs, and COVID-19, among others. Self-testing empowers consumers to control when, where, and how they test for any of these diseases, and to take the next steps for their own health and well-being based on the test results.
Given the challenges in accessing traditional, provider-led testing services in many parts of the world, such as long distance from facilities, limited operating hours of conventional clinics, competing client priorities such as job and schooling, stigma, high cost, poor awareness, and a dearth of culturally competent healthcare workers, self-testing is a useful tool to increase screening and access to diagnosis and care for HIV, viral hepatitis, STIs, and other infectious diseases. Women and girls living with HIV continue to face sexual and reproductive health challenges often disproportionately aggravated by social, cultural, financial, and legal barriers to self-care services. Interventions on self-efficacy and empowerment around sexual and reproductive health and rights are therefore critical for women and girls in realizing their sexual reproductive health rights (SRHR). Moreover, in the last 8 years, there has also been compelling evidence on the acceptability, usability, feasibility and preferences of HIV self-testing (HIVST). Despite evidence supporting the introduction of HIVST and other self-care tools, cost remains one of the leading barriers hindering large-scale deployment of these tools, particularly in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). The price of most HIVST kits is about three times that of professional use HIV kits. Recently, there have been efforts to address cost and other major barriers through supply-side and demand-side interventions including price negotiation and other innovative, market-based financing mechanisms.
This Research Topic seeks submissions on global and country-level evidence from supply and demand side interventions that have contributed to the market growth of HIVST and other self-care products for sexual and reproductive health.
Submissions to this journal edition could cover a wide range of issues and types, including original articles, empirical findings, theoretical papers, commentaries, critical reviews, systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
• Country level examples, best practices and lessons learned during the introduction and scale-up of HIV self-testing including adaptations to other self-care products.
• Sustainable models drawing from supply-side financing mechanisms e.g. performance-based financing, pooled procurement, national health insurance, public-private partnerships (PPP), domestic resource mobilization for HIVST as part of the overall government investment in SRH and related products.
• Demand side financing mechanisms e.g., subsidy financing, voucher-based approach, part of the overall SRH investment.
• Assessment of COVID-19 impact on demand and supply for HIV self-testing/self-care products vis global supply chain, commodity utilization, product quantification and forecasting.
• Online solutions for promoting Self-Testing for HIV, viral Hepatitis-C, STIs and Covid-19.
Given the challenges in accessing traditional, provider-led testing services in many parts of the world, such as long distance from facilities, limited operating hours of conventional clinics, competing client priorities such as job and schooling, stigma, high cost, poor awareness, and a dearth of culturally competent healthcare workers, self-testing is a useful tool to increase screening and access to diagnosis and care for HIV, viral hepatitis, STIs, and other infectious diseases. Women and girls living with HIV continue to face sexual and reproductive health challenges often disproportionately aggravated by social, cultural, financial, and legal barriers to self-care services. Interventions on self-efficacy and empowerment around sexual and reproductive health and rights are therefore critical for women and girls in realizing their sexual reproductive health rights (SRHR). Moreover, in the last 8 years, there has also been compelling evidence on the acceptability, usability, feasibility and preferences of HIV self-testing (HIVST). Despite evidence supporting the introduction of HIVST and other self-care tools, cost remains one of the leading barriers hindering large-scale deployment of these tools, particularly in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). The price of most HIVST kits is about three times that of professional use HIV kits. Recently, there have been efforts to address cost and other major barriers through supply-side and demand-side interventions including price negotiation and other innovative, market-based financing mechanisms.
This Research Topic seeks submissions on global and country-level evidence from supply and demand side interventions that have contributed to the market growth of HIVST and other self-care products for sexual and reproductive health.
Submissions to this journal edition could cover a wide range of issues and types, including original articles, empirical findings, theoretical papers, commentaries, critical reviews, systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
• Country level examples, best practices and lessons learned during the introduction and scale-up of HIV self-testing including adaptations to other self-care products.
• Sustainable models drawing from supply-side financing mechanisms e.g. performance-based financing, pooled procurement, national health insurance, public-private partnerships (PPP), domestic resource mobilization for HIVST as part of the overall government investment in SRH and related products.
• Demand side financing mechanisms e.g., subsidy financing, voucher-based approach, part of the overall SRH investment.
• Assessment of COVID-19 impact on demand and supply for HIV self-testing/self-care products vis global supply chain, commodity utilization, product quantification and forecasting.
• Online solutions for promoting Self-Testing for HIV, viral Hepatitis-C, STIs and Covid-19.
Keywords: Self-Care, HIV, Self-testing, Market-based interventions, Sexual and Reproductive health
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
