Point-of-care blood tests: do Indian villagers have cultural objections?

摘要

The key research question for this paper is whether Indian villagers would be resistant to theintroduction of new technologies that could test blood in the villages where they reside, ratherthan at hospitals or clinics as is now the case. We have selected the subject of blood testingbecause screening and diagnosis of blood is relevant to many conditions that form part of India’sdisease burden—for example, anemia1, hepatitis and malaria. Point-of-care testing would involvecollecting blood inminute quantities, namely via a few pinpricks, and testing it on site using simplemethods that could bemanaged by people with low levels of literacy. The technology would providea readout of the test results within minutes of the blood being applied to the testing medium. Thecollection of blood and the tests could be conducted in front of patients in their own homes and theblood would not require refrigeration, storage or transportation to urban hospitals or laboratories.In this paper we consider the possible obstacles to and benefits of point-of-care testing in Indianvillages by examining the controversy surrounding rapid testing for TB in India. We then go onto discuss two possible kinds of obstacles that have been raised in discussions with colleagues inAustralia and India, namely cultural perceptions of blood, and secondly the adequacy of villagelevel health infrastructure2.