South Africa halts distribution of 'blacklisted' HIV testing kit

THE DISTRIBUTION and use of 4.5 million HIV testing kits in South Africa has been halted by the government after it emerged the medical equipment was recently blacklisted by the UN World Health Organisation.

The SD Bioline HIV testing kits produced in Korea and imported into South Africa were deemed problematic by the UN organisation last January, as medical officials found some units were providing false results.

However, the South African government spent over €2 million in June on a new shipment of 4.5 million HIV testing kits. The kits were destined for distribution to hospitals and clinics across the country’s nine provinces.

It is estimated that more than five million people are infected with the HIV virus in South Africa, and getting tested regularly for the disease is one of the central themes of the health department’s strategy to tackle the virus.

Last Monday health minister Aaron Motsoaledi ordered his department to cease distributing the kits until further notice, and a full investigation into why the equipment was bought when it had already been blacklisted by the UN has been launched.

The South Africans contacted the WHO to find out exactly what is wrong with the kits, and according to health official Dr Anban Pillay they were told the problem with the SD Bioline results was in a batch-by-batch variation.

SD Bioline kits have been used in South Africa before, he said, and subjected to batch-by-batch tests, but no problems were encountered.

It is unclear how many kits were distributed nationwide by the time the government halted their circulation, but the number is likely to be in the tens of thousands at least.

The opposition Democratic Alliance party called for heads to roll over the debacle, saying it had created a health risk in a country at the centre of the HIV epidemic.

Health spokeswoman for the Democratic Alliance Patricia Kopane said: “The [health] minister must be held accountable for placing South Africans at risk, even through his ignorance.”