AUTHOR=Balakrishnan Pachamuthu , Smiline Girija A. S. , Shanmugam Saravanan , Kannan Iyanar , Vignesh Ramachandran , Shankar Esaki M. , Sucharitha Sree T. TITLE=The Implementation of HIV Self-Testing in Resource-Limited Settings Where the HIV Disease Burden is High JOURNAL=International Journal of Public Health VOLUME=68 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/international-journal-of-public-health/articles/10.3389/ijph.2023.1605790 DOI=10.3389/ijph.2023.1605790 ISSN=1661-8564 ABSTRACT=

In resource-limited settings, there is growing evidence that HIV testing is lacking among high-risk key populations such as men having sex with men, injection drug users, and transgenders largely due to stigma, discrimination, and lack of confidentiality. Findings from recent studies among high-risk key populations and the general population from various regions including resource-limited settings support the need for wider accessibility of HIV self-testing (HIV-ST) to reach those who may not otherwise have access to testing. Therefore, HIV-ST has untapped potential as a strategy to improve access to HIV testing and to increase testing frequency among key high-risk populations and their partners. Though HIV-ST has emerged as a safe, acceptable, and effective way to reach people, there are several roadblocks to implementing the HIV-ST policy, and fast-track policy implementation needs to be necessitated with newer or modified strategic plans.