The government is to make available more than 20,000 HIV self-testing and self-sampling kits to help end HIV transmissions by the end of this decade, it has announced.
The packs are backed by £1.5m in funding, which alongside increasing testing rates will also ‘reduce stigma, tackle health disparities and raise awareness’, it says. Keir Starmer recently became the first serving G7 leader to take a self-testing HIV test on camera, to demonstrate that getting the test is ‘quick, easy, free and confidential’.
A recent YouGov poll on behalf of the Terrence Higgins Trust found that more than 80 per cent of people were unaware that it was possible to test for HIV at home, with almost half of respondents saying that home testing would be their preference. ‘Since the introduction of self-testing kits, home testing has increased in popularity, especially among women and some ethnic minorities who are less likely to test through their local sexual health services,’ the government states.
NHS England expanded its opt-out emergency department BBV testing in areas with high HIV prevalence in 2023, with the government stating that the UK was on course to meet its 2030 target for ending new transmissions. A UKHSA report from the same year found that half of people living with diagnosed HIV were now over 50.
‘Increasing HIV testing is a vital step towards meeting our goal and will be a core element of our new HIV action plan published later this year,’ said new public health minster Ashley Dalton. ‘That’s why we are investing over £4.5m to deliver a national prevention programme. And that’s why today, I can announce that we will extend the programme for a further year to March 2026, backed by an extra £1.5m.’
‘Increasing the early detection and diagnoses of HIV enables the NHS to provide people with better access to the latest and most effective life-saving medication, which can prevent long-term health issues and reduces the chance of unknown transmissions to others,’ added NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard. ‘Boosting opportunities to test for HIV, including through home testing and the highly successful NHS emergency department testing programme, is crucial. We would encourage anyone who could be living with HIV to order a test and get checked.’