Self-testing for HIV could help increase screening rates

Providing at-home HIV testing kits to gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men could be a good strategy to ensure regular screening, new research finds. Data from nearly 2,000 participants — roughly half of whom were controls — found that nearly 77% of those given self-tests reported screening for HIV three or more times during the one-year study period, compared to about 22% in the control group. Those in the self-test group also reported twice as many infections as those in the control group — which authors say should be expected since they are a new population to be tested. Still, more than 70% of these people also reported looking into treatment, and study participants also distributed tests to others in their social group, suggesting that the option for self-testing could further help prevention and treatment efforts.