World Aids Day: NACO indecisive of introducing self-testing kits, even when 40% of HIV+ remain ignorant of their status

By National AIDS Control Organisation's (NACO) own admission, over 40 per cent of HIV positive patients in India are unaware of their status; the Union Health Ministry remains indecisive about introducing HIV self-testing. Ahead of World AIDS Day on Dec 1, World Health Organization (WHO) has released new guidelines on HIV self-testing to improve access to and uptake of HIV diagnoses.

"In India there are around 21 lakh HIV positive patients but about seven lakh of them are unaware of their HIV status. NACO was earlier planning to introduce the HIV self-test kits in India, but keeping many issues in mind, the testing module is still under consideration and has not yet been introduced," said a senior official in NACO, a division under Union Health Ministry.

According to a new WHO progress report, lack of an HIV diagnosis is a major obstacle to implement the organisation's recommendation that everyone with HIV should be offered antiretroviral therapy (ART). The report reveals that more than 18 million people with HIV are currently taking ART, and a similar number is still unable to access the treatment. Currently, over 14 million people with HIV across the world remain unaware of their status.