Self-testing helps combat HIV in adolescents
World Health Organisation (WHO), 22 July 2015 - Concerns about confidentiality and privacy are one of the key barriers to HIV testing services for adolescents.Today only half of people living with HIV are aware of their status. This "testing gap", coupled with the importance of early treatment for HIV, is driving interest in of the role of self-testing for HIV.
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“If I went to a clinic and the tester was someone I knew, I would just greet her, ask about her family and then go away without being tested for HIV. Most people have to go to clinics far away where they are not known by anyone in order to be tested.” The concern expressed by a young woman from Malawi underlines the urgent recommendations recently published in a study, that the availabilitiy of a simple and discreet way of a self-test is one of the keys to dramatically increasing the number of adolescents who take a test. Evidence is growing on the role HIV self-testing could play in helping countries reach the 90-90-90 UN targets, which call for a scale-up of HIV testing so that 90% of people with HIV are aware of their infection. Read more... |