Dr. Megi Gogishvili presented an abstract titled “Comparison of HIV Testing Performed Pre- and During COVID-19 at Community-Based Testing Centers in Europe: Analyzing COBATEST Network Data from 2019 to 2020”at the IUSTI Conference, held in Tbilisi, Georgia, from September 29 to October 1.
From 2019 to 2020, forty centers from 15 European countries reported data on HIV testing in both years using the COBATEST standardized data reporting tools. In total 111,117 persons were tested for HIV by forty centers in 2019, and in 2020 the same 40 centers reported 70084 (36.9% less) persons tested. Most of the centers demonstrated substantial decrease in persons tested ranging from 30% to 60% compared to 2019. Three centres had reported more than 60% decrease in HIV testing in 2020 compared to 2019. Minor increase was found in4 centers and one center reported substantial increase.
Please find full abstract here.