How long does it take before a positive HIV test result appears in national HIV statistics?
Depending on the time of the year the HIV test took place, the Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control (CIDPC) usually receives the positive HIV test report in the same year. There may be a time lag between the time of testing and the time at which the positive HIV test report is entered into the national HIV/AIDS surveillance database. A positive HIV test report travels through several steps from the health care provider to the local health department and then to the provincial or territorial health authority before it is received by CIDPC. The positive HIV test report can be held up at any or each of these steps for a variety of reasons, including technological limitations as well as time and staffing constraints. This results in a delay between the time of testing and the time at which the positive HIV test report is entered into the national HIV/AIDS surveillance database. This time lag is frequently referred to as a reporting delay. Consequently, because of reporting
