Head of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, Dr Francois Venter said unclear policy on whether counselors could test for HIV meant there were less people allowed to conduct the testing and less people being tested.

‘€œWe are trying to expand HIV testing as far as possible ‘€“ previously, it was unclear whether counselors were able to prick and diagnose people with HIV ‘€“ and many programmes felt unclear. This meant using nurses and doctors, who are expensive and in short supply, which meant that expansion of testing was compromised,’€ he said.

According to the new regulations the health care providers need to be trained properly and their names recorded at the institution where the tests are conducted.

It also states that the non-health care workers (such as counsellors) are allowed to draw blood by pricking the client’€™s finger,  using a tool ‘€œdesigned to collect minimum amounts of blood enough for testing’€.

Venter said this clarification would reassure health managers that they could use counsellors for testing if trained properly. ‘€œI think this will dramatically improve testing rates,’€ he said.

Catherine Tomlinson, senior researcher for Treatment Action Campaign said the amendment was critical since most health facilities faced gross staff shortages.

‘€œExpanding human resources to carry out blood tests is necessary to expanding access to HIV testing services and to  properly implementing the HIV counseling and testing campaign. This is important because many public health care facilities face a shortage of human resources, particularly in rural areas,’€ she said.

Tomlinson said the move showed that government was beginning to implement task-shifting.

‘€œTask-shifting is a goal that TAC and partners have been advocating for a long time. Task-shifting is important to beginning to address the human resource shortages in the country and overcoming barriers that have impaired health delivery in the past’€ she said.

She said her organisation would ensure that its prevention and treatment literacy practitioners were properly trained to draw blood.

The training has to include:

1.             Information on obtaining informed consent of the person from whom blood is to be drawn.

2.             Preparation for and the actual removal of blood.

3.             Ensuring process quality.

4.             The use of the equipment.

5.             Stopping the bleeding and the disposal of used but unwanted material.

6.             Information on the tests to be conducted.

7.             Interpretation of the test results.

8.             The submission of removed blood for further management.