Confidential distribution of the results of HIV testing is difficult, especially in rural settings. In 2003, Dimagi developed a system to use handheld computers, to distribute HIV results in a population-based HIV surveillance project at the Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In this project 45 000 resident adults will be tested on an annual basis as part of a population-based HIV surveillance cohort.

The system combines the advantages of linked anonymous HIV surveillance with the opportunity for subjects who wish, to be confidentially counseled on their status without having to have a second blood sample taken. Other benefits of the system are: counselors cannot retrieve results without the active participation of the subject; results and identifying information are kept in a secure format in the handheld to protect against loss of the device; and, subjects can go to any counseling point of their choice to receive their results.

HIV Confidant, running on Palm m500™ and Handspring Visor™ handheld computers, was successfully used by the Africa Centre to manage the HIV test results of the patients in rural KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa. The system can be adapted to other Palm based handheld devices and is designed for easy scalability to other platform non-Palm platforms as well. When deployed, according to Dr. Michael Bennish, then Director for the Africa Center, “The handhelds are working extremely well, and so it was a very productive collaboration.”

Read a more detailed description of this Dimagi innovation in action