With the roll-out of RTRI testing, data on recent infections will be used to:
- Strengthen partner notification to reduce number of new HIV infections
- Identify areas of high transmission for prevention programming
- Strengthen laboratory programs and other interventions in high burden locales to reduce HIV incidence
- Generate epidemiologic data to track the epidemic and measure HIV incidence (the rate of new infections)
Information on recent infections is valuable to patients and partner notification services. Recently infected individuals have high HIV viral loads and are more likely to transmit the virus to partners, and they should be treated as soon as possible to improve their health and to reduce their risk of transmission to their sexual partner(s) and babies. The global scale-up of recency testing will help key stakeholders detect these recently infected HIV+ individuals, analyze the data in real-time to better understand transmission, target prevention programs to prevent incident infections, and ultimately interrupt further transmission to help end the epidemic.
