Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has reacted to an announcement from Roche and UNAIDS that will see the price of HIV viral load tests come down. Viral load testing is the gold standard test to monitor HIV treatment, and MSF has advocated for its widespread routine use. MSF responds to the announcement with the following quote:
"Affordable viral load tests have been the missing piece to detecting and preventing HIV treatment failure and helping people reach and maintain viral suppression.
"People on HIV treatment and their clinicians benefit from viral load monitoring to confirm that their treatment is working. Now that price is a less significant barrier, access to viral load testing must be scaled up to reach the goal of 90 percent of people on HIV treatment successfully suppressing the virus to undetectable levels. Now donor countries and national AIDS programs must commit to scaling up to ensure that these lifesaving tools are accessible."
—Sharonann Lynch, HIV/TB Policy Advisor for MSF Access Campaign
