Do you know your HIV status? You can now test yourself at home
Global News
Knowing your HIV status just got easier, with the launch of the free HIV self-test kit. The kit is distributed through CATIE- Canada’s source for HIV and hepatitis C information.
Knowing your HIV status just got easier with the launch of the free HIV self-test kit.
The kit is distributed through Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE ), Canada’s source for HIV and hepatitis C information.
According to CATIE executive director Jody Jollimore, the organization is part of a national initiative set up last year to distribute self-test kits across the country to folks who may need them.
“You can order the test kits on our website, right from your home. They can be mailed to you. For folks that may prefer other options because they may not want something coming in the mail, there are local organizations that are distributing these test kits,” Jillimore said.
For many years the test kits had been made in Canada and distributed around the world, but they were only recently approved in Canada.
“For a while, they were offered as a research project. More recently, organizations like mine have been trying to distribute 200,000 of these test kits with the intention of reaching the undiagnosed,” Jillimore said.
Last year, it was estimated that over 62,000 people were living with HIV in Canada. According to a survey released last year for Saskatchewan and Alberta, Indigenous populations are impacted the most. Only 64 per cent of those who are HIV positive know of their status.
Jillimore says the study just happens to underscore what is already common knowledge — the need to do a better job of engaging Indigenous people.
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