As HIV Community Link did back in 2014, senior officials at the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) are urging public health decision makers to lower barriers to HIV testing. Among the top recommendations are home testing kits and community-based testing performed by non-medical personnel outside of clinical settings.
According to Luiz Loures, deputy executive director of UNAIDS, “Expanding testing is probably the single most powerful game changer… self-testing is the fundamental direction that we should take — knowing your status is a fundamental right. We need to find a way to bring testing closer to the people who are discriminated against by health systems.”
On a similar note, Cheryl Johnson of the WHO described the public health response to HIV testing as, “lagging behind public demand.”
Here at HIV Community Link, enhanced access to low barrier HIV testing has been a key policy priority for several years.
Check out our position statement on Enhanced Access to HIV Testing and Fact Sheet on HIV Home Testing for more info.
More information can be found here on NAM aidsmap.com