Calls to approve HIV home testing kits on World AIDS Day
READ MORE As World AIDS Day is marked on Friday, December 1, HIV researchers and advocacy groups want Australia to fast-track the approval of home testing kits as part of the effort to reduce the spread of the virus. Self-testing kits have been available on the internet since 2014, but they are yet to be approved by Australia’s regulatory body the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). Researchers from Perth’s Curtin University say the kits could be especially useful for people from sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia. These groups consistently record the highest rates of HIV diagnoses in Australia by region of birth and often do not find out they have acquired the virus for several years. A vending machine that sells HIV test kits to students at Peking University in Beijing. (AAP) Corie Gray from the university’s School of Public Health said people from sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia were “over represented when it comes to late diagnoses” and ...