Morocco to Launch Pilot Study for Rapid HIV Self-Testing Kits

Scheduled for a duration of nine months, the study will assess the effectiveness of the self-test on known HIV-positive people with the association, before being submitted to the ethics committee, which will rule on a possible official introduction of the test on the Moroccan market, from 2020.

"We are currently at the stage of designing the protocol and training the teams. The conclusions of the study will be submitted to the ethics committee which will have to rule in May next. Once the committee’s approval has been obtained, a pilot experiment scheduled for nine months will be launched before the official introduction of the self-test on the market," we are told at ALCS.

The amalgam is often made between HIV and AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). After contracting the virus, the body goes through, over a period of 5 to 10 years and sometimes more, the Automatic phases, marked by the attack on the immune system, Acceleration, where the virus begins to multiply, before reaching the deadly phase of AIDS. One can then be a carrier of the virus, and show no symptoms.

The official statistics speak of 20,000 affected people, and 30% of the seropositive population still unaware of the presence of the virus. The ALCS initiative thus comes in time to allow early screening and diagnosis, likely to save the lives of a large majority of patients, especially since treatment is now available free of charge from specialized hospital services, and offers very significant cure rates.