From trial to program: TTANGO2 scale-up and implementation sustains STI point-of-care testing in regional and remote Australian Aboriginal health services

Background: Young people living in remote Aboriginal communities experience some of the highest rates of chlamydia (CT) and gonorrhoea (NG) infection globally. A cluster-randomised controlled trial (TTANGO) in 11 remote primary health services demonstrated point-of-care (POC) testing for CT/NG was acceptable, accurate, improved the uptake and timeliness of treatment, and was cost-saving. Subsequently, POC testing was scaled-up and implemented in a further 20 remote health services (TTANGO2 program) across four jurisdictions (31 in total). We determine whether the uptake of POC testing observed in the trial was also achieved and sustained during the long-term program.

Methods: We conducted descriptive, interrupted time series and trajectory analyses to compare POC testing patterns over two time periods (trial: 2013–15 and program: 2016–19). For the trajectory analysis, we applied a Poisson model to identify and fit health services to testing groups.

Results: Among the 11 services who participated in both the trial and program, 7871 tests were conducted in total. The median number of tests per month in the trial was 241(IQR:178–305) and 408(IQR:294–538) in the program, with no significant trend in the trial (5.6 tests per month, p=0.190) but a significant increasing trend in the program (10.52 tests per month, p<0.001). Among the 31 program services (n=20,622 tests), three trajectory group were identified (low, medium, high). There was a significant upward trend in mean monthly testing in the ‘high’ trajectory group (model-predicted linear regression coefficient:0.03, p=0.002).

Conclusions: Our findings suggest POC testing can be scaled-up and sustained as part of a routinely implemented program, achieving greater than expected testing numbers to support the clinical and public health benefits of more timely treatment. Further research is underway to investigate barriers among the ‘low’ testing sites. These findings support the proposed transition from syndromic management towards aetiological diagnosis and treatment in low- and middle-income countries.