The world has made significant progress to meet the first UNAIDs 95 target - i.e. 95% of those living with HIV knowing their status. Despite this progress, HIV testing gaps still exist. HIV self-tests have been included in WHO HIV testing guidance as part of the tools that can help address this testing gap.

However, access to HIV self-tests is not optimal. The HIV self-test market has been dominated by a single oral fluid-based product that is more than twice the cost of conventional HIV tests. This is due to both first-mover advantage, as well as the even higher price of early blood-based HIV self-tests. While interest is growing in introducing the latest products, lessons learned need to be shared to accelerate adoption and scale-up of new self-testing tools and technologies. There is now increased interest in blood-based HIV self-testing among national HIV testing programmes as significantly lower-priced blood-based HIV self-testing products are available and being approved in high-burden countries.

This satellite session will bring together experts and ministries of health officials to share more about the global guidance and real-world experience with the latest self-testing technologies and approaches.