According to Sharif Shahnaz, the Director of Public Health and Sanitation in Kenya, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) test kits in use in the country meet international standards. Media reports have contradicted this fact, but Shahnaz assured the public that WHO has recommended the kits being used in public health facilities, and so they’re reliable for improving sexual health and wellness in Kenya.
He said, ‘It is important to inform the public that the ministry has at no time ever procured HIV test kits which are not recommended by WHO. Why are we getting worried? We had enough of a scare during the election period,’ he said, adding that the ministry has not procured any new HIV test kits this year for good reason. ‘We have not procured because the Head of the Civil Service has issued a circular that there should be no major procurements and if there are any procurements, they should be notified in writing and let me assure you we have not broken any law.’
However, Custodia Mandlhate, the WHO representative in Kenya, asserted that the United Nations agency has instituted more recent quality assurance standards. ‘It is important to note that all test kits that were eligible for procurement by WHO under the previous test kit evaluation programme are now required to undergo the WHO prequalification assessment and are in varying degrees of assessment,’ she said. ‘Thus there is a period of transition where the current list of products eligible for procurement by WHO contains both products evaluated and found acceptable under old WHO test kit evaluation programme as well as WHO prequalified products.’
Yet Shahnaz, whilst acknowledging the new quality assurance tests, defended the Health Ministry as they carry out their own tests before allowing the use of a kit. ‘The prequalification started much later on but previously there were the recommended kits which they said to continue using while prequalification is still going on because prequalification is a long process. We still test the kits which have been approved by WHO, prequalified by WHO, any batch which comes in we take a sample for testing.’ He added, ‘If the WHO brings to our attention a failure of any of its recommended test kits as they have done in the past, the ministry shall adhere and act accordingly.’
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