During the surge of cases in COVID-19 pandemic, the project team have realized the importance and value of rapid and accurate diagnostic testing for the timely surveillance, monitoring, and management of diseases in both the public health and clinical settings. Unfortunately, despite the high demand of rapid and point-of-care diagnostic tests for various communicable and non-communicable diseases, it is difficult for the Philippines to develop these tests (and vaccines) because of the limited capacity and technology for immunobiologics production in the country. There is no known laboratory in the Philippines capable of producing quality antibodies, and, apparently, there are only several institutions locally that has the capacity for antigenic protein production. 

 As a starting R&D project for this endeavor, recognizing the importance of antenatal or prenatal screening tests for venereal diseases or sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), the team proposed the development of a rapid point-of-care (POC) multiplex test kits for the simultaneous screening tests for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), and Syphilis infection. The World Health Organization (WHO) currently recommends the screening test for these three (3) STDs at least once during pregnancy. The test is also recommended to be done as early as possible during pregnancy so that the interventions can be given to minimize the risk of vertical transmission or so that expecting parents can prepare needed resources for the treatment of infected child – or to minimize viral load. 

The use of clinical samples will be solely for initial testing and optimization of the technology prototype design.

The rapid immunoassay-based screening test kits that will be developed aim to be more convenient as it combines the screening of venereal diseases into one method. The design of the POC kits can also be more cost-effective as it shares the same screening test platform for different diseases.