Self-Testing: A Strategy to Improve Access to HIV, Viral Hepatitis, and STI Testing

NASTAD, in partnership with the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), developed this toolkit to help health departments, public health laboratories, and their community partners decide whether and how to incorporate self-testing for HIV, viral hepatitis, and STIs. The toolkit is designed to support health departments in their efforts to strengthen HIV, viral hepatitis, and STI testing and linkage programs.

This toolkit provides an overview of models of self-testing; the roles of HIV, viral hepatitis, and STI programs, and public health laboratories in supporting self-testing; and a discussion of the benefits and drawbacks of self-testing. Also included are tools that health departments can use to evaluate self-testing as a public health strategy, a summary of currently available commercial self-testing services, and detailed recommendations and “tips” from health departments that have implemented self-testing. 

The toolkit includes case studies of selected health department-supported self-testing programs. The case studies provide detail about the self-testing models employed by health departments, including recruitment and operational details, along with lessons learned that other health departments might find helpful.