Luanda, ANGOLA, April 25 - The Attorney General, Helder Pitta Gróz, said on Tuesday in Luanda that the Prosecution Department is to probe into the usage of HIV testing reagents that were being used by the Health Ministry, which falsely provided positive results for all the tests.,

The Attorney General made the statement to the Angola Public Television (TPA), adding that the Prosecution Department is to investigate where and which organ bought the said testing reagents, taking into account the possible negative consequences on the victims.

Speaking on Tuesday to Angola daily newspaper (Jornal de Angola), the director of the National Institute for Fight against HIV, Maria Lúcia Furtado, revealed that the product in reference is not part of the authorized algorithm and its inefficiency was verified after doubtful results had been recorded.

Therefore, concluded the director, the General Health Inspection has disallowed the usage of the reagent “Aria” for HIV testing.

In the meantime, Maria Lúcia Furtado explained that two tests need to be made to detect HIV, one for tracking and another one for confirmation.

However the sole diagnostic tests approved by Angola are Determine and Unigold.

Meanwhile, the health official assured that the mistake has been corrected and the company involved in the purchase of the product is currently replacing the material and that the tests have been repeated with a product that is part of the algorithm of the Health Ministry.

According to the official, the level of HIV contamination in Angola is estimated at 310,000 people living with the disease and out of this figure 190,000 are women, being many of them pregnant.

According to the director, data from UNAIDS report that the rate of abandonment of the medication is of 54 percent and roughly 13,000 deaths were recorded in 2017.

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