Calls to approve HIV home testing kits on World AIDS Day

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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 often don’t want to voice their concerns with a doctor. 

“We asked them about the barriers to HIV testing for them, and what came out … was that there was a concern around confidentiality when they’re visiting a doctor,” she told SBS News.

“They preferred something such as a HIV self-testing kit … or even a home collection kit where they could send a sample to a lab and have that result sent directly back to them.”

Non-profit organisation Living Positive Victoria supports any kind of testing that ensures people are provided with information and support to understand what a positive diagnosis means. The advocacy group said there are major health benefits to knowing your status early and starting HIV treatment as soon as possible.

Acting chief executive Suzy Malhotra said self-testing kits can play a role in reducing the spread of HIV, but support after diagnosis is a priority. 

“Home testing is an option. We’re still away from it being sanctioned completely. I think the priority is ensuring that people have access to services … pre and post test counselling, to know that they’re in a safe environment,” she said.

“If a positive test is obtained they can share that and receive support from other peers and people living with HIV.

“So there is a way to go but it’s certainly not an impossible task.”

Globally, 36.7 million people are living with HIV, and in Australia just over 25,000 people have the virus.

VIDEO: “My health, my right should be a reality for everyone, everywhere,” says UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé in the clip below. 

The number of new HIV infections has been relatively stable in Australia over the past decade and new figures released by UNAIDS reveal progress in the Asia Pacific.

Between 2010 and 2016, new HIV infections declined 13 per cent and the number of AIDS related deaths decreased by 30 per cent. Since 2010, there has been a 38 per cent decline in new HIV infections among children.

But Dr Bridget Haire, the President of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organsations (AFAO), highlighted that 5.1 million people in the Asia Pacific region are living with HIV, and less than half of those have access to antiretroviral drugs.

“Much of it is about access to testing, so if people don’t recognise themselves to be at risk, they don’t necessarily know their HIV status. So I guess when you’re estimating the total number of people living with HIV, that includes people who haven’t actually tested positive yet,” Dr Haire said. 

“There can also be all kinds of issues around stigma, around people accepting if they have tested positive, accepting that that’s a real thing … that they can do something about it … sometimes there can be a whole lot of barriers that prevent people from accessing treatment.”

Dr Haire supports the calls for TGA approval of self-testing kits. She said approval would give people peace of mind because they would know the tests met Australian standards and the testing kit would come with the correct follow up information if someone was to obtain a preliminary result that suggested they had acquired the virus.

“Instead of you getting a reactive test and freaking out, because it’s going to be an affecting emotional experience … all of the right information is there at your fingertips so you can get in contact with somebody who can talk to you,” she said. 

“If you’re ordering something over the internet … it might be giving you an address of a medical clinic in, I don’t know, in Zimbabwe or something, which is not going to be very helpful for you if you’re in Dubbo.”