Correspondence (The Lancet 343, 1295, May 21,1994)

Home Testing for HIV

Sheila M Gore, A Graham Bird

MRC Biostatistics Unit, Institute of Public Health, Cambridge CB2 2SR, UK; and Churchill Hospital, Oxford. 

Sir -- Frerichs advocates the availability of home testing for HIV infection in developing countries to limit HIV transmission in couples and to do so at reduced cost and inconvenience of testing.  These public health arguments apply equally in developed countries.[1] The UK's ban on home HIV tests [1a] was effected In 1992 by laying regulations before Parliament which made it an offense to sell or supply an HIV testing kit to a member of the public.

Recently published data from the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles [2] suggest that only 1 in 7 heterosexuals in the UK who perceive HIV risk to self have been HIV tested for other reasons -- ie, other than blood donation, pregnancy, insurance, or travel. Moreover, the second most cited risk reduction strategy by those who have changed sexual lifestyle because of HIV/AIDS concern was: "find out more about partner before having sex."  Clearly, relevant information -- HIV status -- is seldom known.

How easy is it for UK heterosexuals (including couples) who acknowledge some, however low, HIV risk to establish their HIV status? We suggest that this aspect of the UK's strategic approach to reducing HIV transmission bears re-examination in the light of current evidence on perception of behavioral risk and HIV test uptake.[2a, 3]

1. Gore SM. Ban on home HIV tests is unjustified. BMJ 1992; 304: 1118.

1a. Same reference as #1

2. Wellings K, Field J, Johnson AM, Wadsworth J. Sexual behavior in Britain. London. Penguin Books. 1994.

2a. Same reference as #2

3. West P, Wight D, Macintyre S. Heterosexual behavior of eighteen year olds in the Glasgow area. J Adolescence 1993; 16: 376-96.