WHO recommends the use of self-tests

KEY FACTS

• 2.1 million people becoming newly infected with HIV in 2015 in the world. This number is stable since 2010, we do not observe a decrease.
• In Western and central Europe and North America, there were an estimated 91 000 HIV infections in the region.
• Today, 40% of all people with HIV (over 14 million) remain unaware of their status.

WHO RECOMMENDS SELF-TESTING

According to WHO, lack of an HIV diagnosis is a major obstacle to implementing the Organization’s recommendation that everyone with HIV should be offered antiretroviral therapy (ART).

"HIV self-testing should open the door for many more people to know their HIV status and find out how to get treatment and access prevention services." said  Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General.

HIV self-testing is a way to reach more people with undiagnosed HIV and represents a step forward to empower individuals, diagnose people earlier before they become sick, bring services closer to where people live, and create demand for HIV testing. This is particularly important for those people facing barriers to accessing existing services.

Self-testing has been shown to nearly double the frequency of HIV testing among men who have sex with men, and recent studies in Kenya found that male partners of pregnant women had twice the uptake of HIV testing when offered self-testing compared with standard testing.

Source: www.who.int