In Cross River State, Nigeria, a shortage of HIV test kits at rural primary healthcare centres has left pregnant women and at-risk communities without the means to know their own health status — a silence that distorts not only individual lives but the data systems that guide an entire state's response to disease. Civil society networks, long accustomed to filling the gaps between policy and practice, have brought the crisis into the open, prompting a first response from state authorities. The deeper question is whether a system built on fragile supply chains and thin coordination can sustain
HIV test kit shortages threaten Cross River disease control efforts
Pregnant women and at-risk populations lack access to HIV testing and counselling services due to kit shortages, potentially leading to undiagnosed infections and continued transmission.