Test yourself for HIV

Tired of waiting anxiously at the New Start clinic to find out your HIV status? Feeling too shy to queue up when free HIV testing is offered at your school and youth events? Well, we have got good news for you! The test, called The OraSure, is an oral testing kit. It tests for HIV in saliva enzymes. It can be used and read in private - no need to go into a clinic.

According to State Media, government has done a trial on the HIV home testing kits in Mazowe. The trial was to see if people were open to testing themselves and if the tests were easy to use without assistance. The head of the HIV/AIDS and TB unit in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Owen Mugurungi said the trial has been a success.

Now, government want to roll out the self-tests nationally. But before they are rolled out, trials will be done on a national scale to see if the rest of the country is open to the tests.

The Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey 2010/11 reports only 57% of adult women and 34% of adult men have ever had an HIV test. The self-test kit is designed to increase the number of people who know their HIV status as global health targets state that 90% of people in the world should know their HIV status by 2020.

Going for an HIV test can be scary. If you’re thinking of having sex, always ask your partner to go for a test with you. Whatever your results are, you’ll find out together - and can get help together. .

Would you use the HIV self testing kit?