An epidemiologist and researcher at the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust Dr Augustine Choko has indicated that the rolling out of Covid-19 rapid diagnostic self-testing could be a game changer in decongesting Malawi’s Covid-19 testing sites.

Choko made the comment when he shared findings of a study which MLW did among health workers at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital and the general population in Lirangwe.

He said if Malawi can implement self-testing then government would channel its efforts towards Covid-19 treatment among others.

“This model of testing decentralizes and brings in a test that can be very conveniently delivered to people, anywhere, anytime and it allows them to know their Covid-19 results within 20 minutes,” Choko said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines released on 9 March 2022 strongly recommends Covid-19 self-testing saying it may reduce existing inequalities in testing access.