Point‐of‐care testing facilitates screening and treatment for anaemia in women and children in rural Pakistan

Abstract

Point-of-care testing used for the detection of anaemia in this rural community helped to identify the burden of disease and to reduce this significantly by way of rapid diagnosis, education and immediate medical intervention.

Prehospital use of point-of-care tests by community health workers: a scoping review

“…Ninety-nine of the 110 POCTs utilized in the included studies tested for malaria and HIV. Of the POCTs designated as “other,” these included the routine health markers blood glucose, hemoglobin A1c, cholesterol, and hemoglobin, as well as diagnostics for infectious pathogens such as Loa Loa, Schistosomes, SARS-COV-2 and Leishmania ( 37 , 43 , 47 , 74 , 83 , 92 , 107 , 109 ). Additionally, one abstract evaluated the use of G6PD as a POCT ( 100 ).…”

“…McCormack et al trained CHWs to obtain hemoglobin POCTs among a rural mountain community in Pakistan ( 47 ). CHWs diagnosed and treated community members who met the diagnostic criteria for anemia.…”

The Benefits and Challenges of Point-of-Care Testing in Rural and Remote Primary Care Settings in Australia

“…With these core elements in place, many clinical benefits of using POC testing in rural and remote primary care settings, both nationally and internationally, have been documented (Table 1). 11,13,[19][20][21][22] There is now also a large source of evidence from ICPOCT networks for the operational, cultural, and economic benefits of POC testing for the patient (convenience and accessibility), the POC test operator (empowerment), the medical practitioner (timely clinical decision-making) and the community (building workforce capacity for POC testing); these benefits are listed in Table 2. 18,22,24,[26][27][28][29] In the opinion of the authors, infectious disease POC testing has the greatest potential for growth during the next decade.…”