You Should Check If You Are HIV Positive

As we welcome in December, we also usher in World AIDS Day.

In Malaysia, 108,519 lives have been affected by AIDS since 1986 – and recent cases show 78 per cent of HIV cases are sexually transmitted, a huge jump compared to the unsafe drug injecting record previously.

Over 14 million people in the world suffer from HIV but remain unaware of their status as they are undiagnosed, according to World Health Organisation (WHO).

For those who wish to uptake HIV diagnosis, WHO has released new guidelines on HIV self-testing as the organisation recommends for everyone to be tested, and those with HIV to be offered life-saving treatment, antiretroviral therapy (ART), should they be diagnosed positive.

In November, UNAIDS has found that 18.2 million people are now on ART and that in the six months to June 2016, and an additional million people had gained access to the therapy after being diagnosed.

Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General says, "HIV self-testing should open the door for many more people to know their HIV status and find out how to get treatment and access prevention services," adding it can also prevent HIV transmission to others.

WHO explains its guidelines on self-testing, as below:

"By offering HIV self-testing, we can empower people to find out their own HIV status and also to notify their partners and encourage them to get tested as well," said Dr Gottfried Hirnschall, Director of WHO’s Department of HIV.

As self-testing holds no barriers, it “should lead to more people knowing their status and being able to act upon it,” he added.

“Self-testing will be particularly relevant for those people who may find it difficult to access testing in clinical settings and might prefer self-testing as their method of choice," the doctor stated.

Malaysian AIDS Council vice-president Prof Dr Ismail Baba has also supported self-test kits saying, “If we want to encourage Malaysians to know their HIV status, we must promote the self-test kits.”

Adolescent girls and young women in particular are vulnerable to HIV transmission, and if self-testing kits are provided to those attending antenatal clinics, it would make it easier for them to know their status.

"Young women are facing a triple threat…they are at high risk of HIV infection, have low rates of HIV testing, and have poor adherence to treatment,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

WHO currently supports free distribution of HIV self-testing kits and are working to reduce costs to attain self-test kits at an affordable price.

Although a wide-scale implementation of self-testing remains limited, 23 countries currently have policies in place supporting it, and many other nations are developing similar policies.

Here, several pharmacies are selling self-testing kits, and they are also available online for as low as RM20, claiming to be 99.9 per cent accurate. But do be mindful, as Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society president Datuk Nancy Ho has cautioned those who wish to conduct self-tests.

“No test is perfect and there could be false negatives. It is important to see a healthcare professional and be referred for a follow-up test to reconfirm the result, and seek care and counselling,” she previously told The Star.

The theme of this year's World Aids Day is ‘Hands up for HIV Prevention’ and UNAIDS is also working on the fast track to end the ongoing epidemic by 2030, increasingly working to stop transmission between mother and baby.