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Abstract
Introduction Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a silent epidemic that needs a comprehensive and contextualised approach to manage. Access to readily available, affordable and acceptable HCV point-of-care (POC) in vitro diagnostics (IVDs) is equally required to meet the global HCV goals. However, most guidelines for evaluating these IVDs such as the WHO prequalification process and country-specific standards disproportionately focus on diagnostic performance. The real-time connectivity, ease of specimen collection, affordability, sensitivity, specificity, user-friendliness, rapidity and robustness, equipment-free or simplicity and deliverability to end-users (REASSURED) criteria provide a holistic and user-oriented evaluation of the IVDs in the populations they are meant to be used. Therefore, as part of a multinational study in sub-Saharan Africa, we will conduct an evaluation of the Bioline HCV POC test for diagnosing HCV infection in primary healthcare settings of Ghana using the REASSURED criteria.
Methods and analysis This field evaluation will be conducted in three phases. The first phase will use a cross-sectional field evaluation study design to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the Bioline HCV POC test. The second phase will use mixed methods to ascertain operational characteristics and users’ perceptions. In the third phase, a cross-sectional survey will be used to estimate the costs of accessing HCV diagnostics services using three proposed HCV testing models to inform the affordability of the testing pathways and linkage to care in the primary healthcare clinics. This phase will run concurrently with the second phase of the study. Thematic content analysis and quantitative data analysis will be performed using ATLAS.ti V.23.0.6 and StataCorp LLC’s Stata statistical software V.16.0, respectively.
Ethics and dissemination The study protocol has been reviewed and fully approved by the Faculty of Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee, University of Pretoria (281/2023) and the Ghana Health Service Ethics Review Committee (GHS-ERC013/08/23). This diagnostic trial has also been registered in the Pan African Clinical Trial Registry (PACTR202410837698664). The findings of the study will be presented in relevant peer-reviewed journals, at local and international conferences, and to all stakeholders involved.
- PUBLIC HEALTH
- Hepatology
- INFECTIOUS DISEASES
- Epidemiology
- Diagnostic microbiology
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Footnotes
Contributors Conceptualisation: ED, EMM, TPM-T. Methodology: ED, EMM, TPM-T. Project administration: ED. Supervision: RKDE, EMM, TPM-T. Validation: TPM-T. Writing—original draft: ED. Writing—review and editing: ED, RKDE, EMM, TPM-T. Guarantor: ED.
Funding This study has received product and financial support from Abbott Rapid Diagnostics as part of Abbott’s Investigator Sponsored Studies (ISS).
Competing interests EMM declares that he is employed by Abbott Rapid Diagnostics as a Scientific Affairs Manager for Africa and a co-supervisor to Evans Duah. He, therefore, acknowledges that he is aware of his responsibility to take the necessary steps to take reasonable steps to avoid any potential or perceived conflict of interest during his co-supervision duties in this study. Moreover, as a co-supervisor, his contribution and decisions will be reviewed and approved by TPM-T, the main supervisor of the study. All authors declare no other conflict of interest.
Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer-reviewed.
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