Namax donates HIV test kits

Namax Pharmaceuticals yesterday donated 10 000 HIV rapid test kits to the health ministry.
Earlier this year, the ministry confirmed that the country was indeed experiencing a shortage of rapid HIV test kits. The few that were still in stock had been reserved for emergency cases and pregnant women.
Namax Pharmaceuticals, a Namibian-based company that was founded in 2014, yesterday donated N$200 000 worth of HIV rapid test kits to alleviate the shortage.
Xiangyu Ying, executive director of Namax, explained that the product is WHO-approved and that it only takes 30 minutes to determine your HIV status. “The kits work with both HIV-1 and HIV-2 and the testing procedure is basically the same,” he said.
The Deputy Minister of Health and Social Services Juliet Kavetuna said the ministry will offer voluntary testing at different centres around Namibia. She also mentioned that this would be the start of many such projects with all the different foundations and companies who want to make a contribution to healthcare.
The ministry’s public relations officer Ester Paulus confirmed that it could take two days for facilities to receive the test kits after orders are placed with the central medical stores.


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