About Us

Scaling up point of care testing, together.

RAPID is a research consortium of approximately 120 members led by world-leading experts in diagnostics and health service research, epidemiology, social science, health economics, and modelling research who work in collaboration with educational and research institutes, community, government, clinical services, industry groups and other stakeholders.

We conduct research and make recommendations to encourage scale-up of point of care testing across Australia and the Asia Pacific, in recognition of its life-saving potential. RAPID was established in 2019 and has since supported a large number of social science, health economics and epidemiological projects across a range of infectious diseases, population and settings. A snapshot of projects supported by RAPID and related point of care testing Programs can be found here.

 
Affected communities are at the heart of what we do, and our five Hubs cover 14 diseases with >900 clinics/ locations (e.g. services, communities, homes) in Australia (including Aboriginal services), Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

We are proudly funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council as a Centre of Research Excellence.

The barriers to scaling up point of care

Despite significant advancements in diagnostic technologies, point of care testing is not being used to its maximum impact due to various barriers and challenges.

 

We exist to
change that.

The opportunity

Point of care testing allows fast, accurate testing to take place anywhere – with the opportunity for treatment and management all in one visit.

The challenge

The past decade has seen major advances in point of care diagnostic technologies, with recognition from major bodies such as the World Health Organization. Yet despite these advances, there are still many opportunities to increase the scale-up of point of care testing. It is not yet being used to its full potential.

Our role

Our research and recommendations are used by health services, advocates, community organisations and more. We pioneer using the right test in the place, based on the individual needs of each community. 

It can – and does – save lives when used to its best potential.

To do this, research and recommendations must be made to minimise the barriers of scaling up.

Our research breaks down the myriad barriers that stop point of care testing from reaching its full potential.