HIV Home Tests Should Be Included As Prevention Tool In International Strategies

New York Times: Letter to the Editor: A Different Strategy
Elliott Millenson, founder and former chief executive of the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary that developed the first home test for HIV

“…Now that there are drugs that can help prevent HIV transmission, the World Health Organization appears to see the problems with [the ‘ABC’ HIV prevention strategy — abstain, be faithful, use a condom –] and is promoting guidelines that would ‘increase by nine million the number of people who should get treatment and untold millions the number who should get protective doses.’ Untold millions translates to untold billions in costs, unless pharmaceutical companies are willing to dramatically reduce prices. At the same time, there are less expensive approaches to prevention, including extremely low-cost rapid HIV tests — less than $1 — that people can use at home to test themselves and find out the HIV status of sex partners. It’s time to move past our ABCs” (10/5).

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

KFF Headquarters: 185 Berry St., Suite 2000, San Francisco, CA 94107 | Phone 650-854-9400
Washington Offices and Barbara Jordan Conference Center: 1330 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005 | Phone 202-347-5270

www.kff.org | Email Alerts: kff.org/email | facebook.com/KFF | twitter.com/kff

The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news, KFF is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California.