Harnessing innovative HIV point-of-care testing for health systems strengthening: early lessons from Zimbabwe

Questions linking social needs with new technologies have continued to be raised but only very recently have they begun to occupy more of the centre-stage in innovation policy debates. In this narrative review, we draw from innovation and health systems literature and thinking to trace and analyse the deployment and uptake of innovative point-of-care testing in the early infant diagnosis of HIV in Zimbabwe, one of 15 UNITAID supported early adopter countries. Following a literature review and discussions with policy-makers in Zimbabwe, we distil key lessons from this implementation context and delineate the implications of our findings for the debates on new technological and socio-economic approaches and the health systems strengthening agenda in low-middle income countries (LMICs). We conclude this article by proposing new avenues for future research.