MoH Uganda unveils more effective Abbott Malaria Test Kit
[Kampala, Uganda, Thursday 6th August, 2020] - In 2019, A Malaria study was conducted in Mpigi District supported by the Ministry of Health (MoH) using Highly Sensitive Rapid NxTek Malaria Test Kits produced by Abbott Rapid Diagnostics, a US-based pharmaceutical company.
. This was a two-part study that involved;
- The use of Abbott’s new generation of malaria tests (Highly Sensitive rapid Diagnostic Tests, HS-RDTs) in comparison with the current malaria tests on the market
- The use of a smartphone application (the Data Logger SMAPP) by the village health-care workers to provide an opportunity for real-time disease surveillance and elimination interventions.
On Wednesday, 5th August, 2020, the study team released the official 35-page report that revealed very exciting breakthroughs in the fight against Malaria;
- The new generation of Abbott Malaria tests provided increased case finding. In the outpatient group (OPG), the malaria causing parasite positivity rate was 13.3% for HS-RDTs (Abbott’s Malaria test), more than double that of 6.4% with cRDTs (the ordinary malaria tests) on the same patients.
- Abbott’s Malaria tests detected more malaria in pregnant women than the ordinary malaria tests
- Real-time data reporting of malaria cases facilitated quick decision-making thanks to the Data Logger. This will help MoH to know where the hot-spot Malaria infections may occur so they can address Malaria eradication more efficiently.
The findings from this study will further accelerate efforts toward the Uganda Malaria Reduction and Elimination Plan (UMREP) 2021 – 2025.
Abbott will be providing these testing kits at a subsidized price. “This initiative was Abbott’s way of fulfilling its obligation to the private public partnership with the government of Uganda through the Ministry of Health” –Hassan Segujja, Country Manager, Abbott Uganda.