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Introduction: The South and Southeast Asia region has the second‐highest number of people living with HIV globally. Despite progress in reducing HIV incidence and AIDS‐related deaths, the region still has a long way to go in achieving the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) 95‐95‐95 HIV testing, treatment and viral suppression targets. HIV self‐testing (HIVST) is recommended by the World Health Organization as an additional approach to HIV testing. This paper provides a commentary on the implementation status, benefits, barriers and recommendations for HIVST implementation in South and Southeast Asia. Additionally, it presents perspectives from HIV testing service experts from 11 countries in the region to put forth recommendations to accelerate the implementation of HIVST in South and Southeast Asia. Discussion: There is uneven progress in national HIVST policy development and implementation across the region. HIVST, as an additional testing approach, can help to enhance testing coverage, frequency and demand for follow‐up HIV services among key populations. Key factors influencing the implementation and scale‐up of HIVST include the degree of awareness of HIVST among general and key populations, the development and implementation of supportive national HIVST policies and the availability of public funding for HIVST. To address barriers and leverage enablers to HIVST implementation, generating evidence on cost‐effectiveness and budget impact, developing multisectoral partnerships for market shaping, promoting differentiated and decentralized delivery models, and optimizing linkage to further testing and care are recommended. Conclusions: It is crucial to accelerate the implementation and scale‐up of HIVST to differentiate and decentralize the delivery of HIV testing services in South and Southeast Asian countries. Sharing experiences among country experts is vital to foster the adoption of best practices and facilitate the trial‐and‐error process of HIVST implementation. Such collaborative approaches can help South and Southeast Asian countries attain the UNAIDS 95‐95‐95 targets, especially the first 95 on HIV diagnosis, and play a significant role in ending the global AIDS epidemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To determine the prevalence and clinical features of ocular tuberculosis in patients with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Design: Prospective cross-sectional study. Methods: Detailed history and ocular examination of 46 patients (92 eyes) in the outpatient department of an AIDS clinic. Results: Seventeen of 46 (36.9%) patients had clinical and radiological evidence of pulmonary tuberculosis. Of these, four (23.5%) showed findings consistent with ocular tuberculosis. Lesions included tubercles (1 eye of 3 patients) and chorioretinitis (1 eye of 1 patient). Commonly, these patients had evidence of abdominal tuberculosis. Hemorrhages, cotton-wool spots, herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO), cytomegalovirus retinitis (CMVR), and disc edema were other non-tubercular AIDS-related lesions and were seen in seven of the remaining 42 patients (16.2%). Conclusion: Ocular tuberculosis was a common finding in this study and was found in profoundly immunocompromised patients with disseminated tuberculosis. Diagnosis of ocular tuberculosis may help reduce HIV/tuberculosis co-infection mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]