The Importance of Testing
When someone is diagnosed with HIV, they can receive antiretroviral therapy. As of the end of 2021, nearly 30 million people with HIV were accessing this life changing care. But people who don’t know their status can unknowingly spread the virus continuing the cycle of infections.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, HIV testing declined 22% worldwide.
Testing remains the first step to ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat and is the connector to care that can help them continue living their lives should they test positive.
That’s where at-home HIV testing that’s private, reliable and easy-to-use comes in.
At-Home Testing to Fill the Gap
In 2016, the World Health Organization recommended self-testing as an easy, effective way to reach people who may not test otherwise, including people from disproportionately vulnerable groups who are unlikely to get the healthcare they need, such as young people and men who have sex with men.
Studies have repeatedly shown that HIV self-testing makes people more likely to get tested. A study in South Africa of men who have sex with men noted a 47% increase in semi-annual HIV testing when using self-tests. A facility-based HIV self-testing study found that people using self-tests were eight times more likely to get regular HIV testing than those who only had access to clinical settings.
FOLLOW ABBOTT