Preferences and Acceptability of Testing for Sexually Transmitted Infections in an HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Clinic in Hanoi, Vietnam
Bui et al.
The finding, in our words
Self-collection of urine, pharyngeal and anal specimens for chlamydia and gonorrhoea testing was highly acceptable among HIV PrEP clients in Vietnam, with 97.9% providing specimens from all three sites and 99.4% willing to repeat the process; cost was the most important factor influencing testing preferences.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
Urine self-sampling for HPV detection showed good agreement with clinician-collected cervical samples (Kappa 0.72) under optimised conditions of 40 mM EDTA preservative, storage at 25°C, and processing within 72 hours. With a cost of USD 1.10 and high acceptability among women and healthcare workers, this method offers a practical decentralised screening approach for resource-limited settings.
The programme found that men prefer traditional healthcare settings for STI screening, yet community venues such as amateur football clubs were acceptable to about half of sports participants, with high uptake of urine-based screening across different promotional approaches. Self-sampling kits for STIs were highly acceptable, and accelerated partner therapy via telephone hotline or pharmacy assessment achieved partner treatment rates that, while below national standards, exceeded outcomes previously reported from community settings.
A study of 2500 women found 99.0% agreement between first-void urine and vaginal self-sampling for HPV detection using Cobas4800, with 98.1% of participants preferring urine. Although conducted in a resource-limited setting which may limit generalisability, these results support urine as a viable sample type for decentralised, patient-centric screening.
First-void urine and self-collected vaginal swabs showed similar sensitivity and specificity to clinician-collected cervical samples for high-risk HPV detection across two real-time PCR assays, supporting their use as decentralised, patient-collected alternatives; most women preferred first-void urine for regular cervical screening.
This randomised sub-study found return rates of 10.4% for Colli-Pee, 10.1% for FLOQSwabs and 7.4% for Evalyn-Brush. All devices yielded sufficient DNA with low invalid rates, but the authors noted the study was limited by low overall participation.