Diagnotech: How One Company Has Handled The HIV Viral Load Sophisticated Automated Platform in Nepal For The Last Decade: A Look Back On World AIDS Day

Have you ever thought which company is responsible for supplying and maintaining the Swiss Technology Automated Platform CAP-CTM used for quantitative diagnosis of HIV Viral Load in Nepal?

Who Are Diagnotech?

Diagnotech, a company based in Baluwatar, Kathmandu has been handling the HIV viral load in Nepal for the last decade. This company is associated with Roche Diagnostics, a medical company based in Basel, Switzerland and has a history of innovation for more than 127 years.

Roche is consistently the world’s #1 medical company and has a fully automated system of clinical diagnosis in the world. Diagnotech is the only authorized channel partner of Roche diagnostics products in Nepal.

International development partners’ input and aid is integral to HIV/AIDS diagnosis in Nepal. In fact, much of the progress our country has made over the last decade in reducing HIV/AIDS has been in part due to the rigorous funding for required resources and knowledge. Roche works and partners globally with such multinational donor agencies to improve the quality of lives of people.

USAID is one of the major organizations helping reduce & diagnose the STD in Nepal. Similarly, Global Fund & FHI 360 are other organizations proactively helping Nepal deal with the disease. Nepal’s own National Centre for AIDS and STD made leaps and bounds in terms of progress with the help of USAID’s EpiC.

Looking at it etymologically, Diagnotech is composed of two parts Diagno from diagnostics and tech from technology, so we can easily see what Diagnotech does.

What they do and what they stand for are similar. Diagnotech has been providing after-sales services for installed diagnostics equipment since last 30 years and surprisingly it is able to keep almost all equipment up & running for more than 10 years which exceed international average life expectancy of diagnostics equipment, thanks to an active team of biomedical engineers ready to tackle issues that comes by anywhere in Nepal. The same goes for the HIV/AIDS diagnosis Analyzer that they have supplied.

Current Situation of HIV/AIDS in Nepal

As per the 2022 World Aids Day factsheet from NCASC, there is still a huge number of people living with HIV and at risk of transmission without diagnosis.

Estimated HIV Load In Nepal

This UNAIDS report, Nepal’s HIV trend dropped the most in 2005 and has declined steadily ever since.

Data from UNAIDS of HIV Infections and Deaths

Diagnosis has played a huge part in reducing the number of HIV infections and death. Another important facet of HIV/AIDS diagnosis is the administration of the correct Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) treatment plan.

Early infant diagnosis (EID) of HIV

Moving on, another often overlooked and sometimes even deadlier form of transmission is vertical transmission, a type of transmission where a fetus gets infected without any contact because their mother is infected.

Diagnotech has been actively trying to source DBS technology for easy sample collection and transportation. Nepal has been successful in reducing this type of transmission with the aid of Early Infant HIV Diagnosis using the Roche System.

Conclusion

To end, Nepal still has to be vigilant about HIV and AIDS. The disease has been controlled with the joint efforts of thousands of people, the government, numerous organizations, the medical community, & much more. However, a continued effort must persist to keep these infections as low as possible.

Here are some useful links for someone trying to learn about or suffering from HIV/AIDS:

• Useful Links