Commentary: HIV testing in low- and middle-income countries: an urgent need for scaling up

How can national AIDS program managers in low- and middle-income countries improve the coverage of HIV testing? In these countries heavily affected by HIV/AIDS, testing for HIV infection remains indeed critically infrequent with regard to its central role for individual care and control of the epidemic. Only 20 per cent of adults and 28 per cent of infants born from HIV-infected mothers are tested in a timely manner. The expansion of HIV testing is a prerequisite for reaching the World Health Organization's objective of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support as well as the Millennium Development Goals related to HIV/AIDS and child mortality. The successful Rwandan experience of scaling up early infant HIV diagnosis brings hope for many countries.