Title of the Study: Qualitative field research on barriers to point of care testing in India
Point-of-care (POC) tests have the potential to improve the management of infectious diseases, especially in resource-limited settings where healthcare infrastructure is weak, and access to quality and timely medical care is a challenge. This research is funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, via McGill University Health Centre Research Institute, West Montreal, Canada.
Objective:
To conduct qualitative research on why some POC tests are used at the point-of-care and others are not, with a special focus on well-established Rapid Diagnostic Tests of global health importance: HIV, malaria, syphilis, hepatitis, and dengue, and to better understand “user needs” in terms of TB diagnostics.
Study site: Tumkur district and Bangalore urban, Karnataka state
