Cần Thơ City launches website to support people to conduct a self-HIV test at home. — Photo vov.vn

CẦN THƠ — The Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in the Mekong Delta city of Cần Thơ, the first locality of its kind nationwide, has recently launched a service to support people to conduct a self-HIV testing at home.

People who want to test for HIV can access website tuxetnghiem.vn to register and receive HIV self-testing kits by post or collect from the Centre for Disease Control.

After receiving the kit, people can self-test at home and report the results via the website.

Clients will be consulted directly via facebook, Zalo or a special hotline.

Under the pilot project, 2,500 OraQuick In-Home HIV Test kits will be provided free of charge for people over 16 years old and living in Cần Thơ City, not for HIV-infected people, the centre said.

‘It is a way to ensure that people have access to HIV testing for HIV prevention and for long-term HIV care and treatment. It also helps people know their HIV status so that they can adopt appropriate plans," said Dr Phạm Đức Mạnh, deputy director HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Department.

"This model helps Cần Thơ Province's HIV/AIDS prevention and control activities and the whole country achieve the goal of eliminating HIV by 2030," he told the Voices of Việt Nam.

The national target aims to have 90 per cent of infected people knowing their status by 2025 and 95 per cent by 2030.

The rate of people at high-risk getting HIV tested annually will reach 70 per cent by 2025 and 80 per cent by 2030.

According to Dương Quốc Phong, head of a group which helps cases among men who have sex with men (MSM), said the MSM community reacted positively to this service because it offers a private, convenient and simple testing option.

"This pilot model helps people be very active in testing. I think this project will be highly effective, particularly those who face social barriers to HIV services," Phong said, adding that people who test positive can expect to live a healthy life with HIV without passing it on to anyone else.

“Many people are generally afraid to be tested, they are afraid to go to the hospital, but I really like this kit because you can test yourself and know your status," a client who receives the HIV-testing kit from Ninh Kiều District said.

Dr Nguyễn Thị Thúy Vân from WHO office in Việt Nam said community-based HIV testing, which has been piloted since 2016 and expanded in 2018, has greatly contributed to increasing HIV testing coverage and detection of HIV-infected people in the community.

This model has approached people at high risk of HIV infection but have never been tested for HIV.

The online provision of HIV self-testing kits has been implemented in many countries and have proven the feasibility and effectiveness of this model, she said.

The project started in Cần Thơ City from November and will run until September 2021 and it will then be evaluated and developed from October to December in 2021.

All client information is kept confidential.

"After implementing the pilot project, we will evaluate the feasibility of providing self-HIV testing kits via website and hopefully it will help people with HIV access preventive medicine and treatment services," Vân said. — VNS