Point-of-Care HIV and Syphilis Screening

Key Message

Dual point-of-care tests for HIV and syphilis and standalone point-of-care tests for syphilis may be useful in prenatal care for screening people for potential HIV and/or syphilis infections, based on findings from test accuracy studies. In prenatal care, point-of-care tests for syphilis have the potential to be cost-effective and may increase the proportion of people screened and treated for syphilis. Decision-makers should consider the potential for point-of-care HIV and syphilis screening to increase access to timely treatment for birthing parents and newborns, particularly in rural and remote communities and certain equity-deserving groups. However, the identified studies for this report provided few details about included populations, limiting an assessment of potential health inequities related to point-of-care screening. None of the included studies used point-of-care tests for HIV or syphilis in people in labour. We did not find any studies on the clinical utility or cost-effectiveness of dual point-of-care tests for HIV and syphilis that met our inclusion criteria. We did not find any studies on the diagnostic test accuracy, clinical utility, or cost-effectiveness of standalone point-of-care tests for HIV that met our inclusion criteria.