Penn Today: Access to HIV self-tests in Kenya

From Penn Today: World AIDS Day has been held every Dec. 1 since 1988, an opportunity for people across the globe to unite in the fight against HIV, to show support for people living with HIV, and to remember those who have died from an AIDS-related illness. Marking the day, Penn Today features new research led by Harsha Thirumurthy, associate professor of medical ethics and health policy at the Perelman School of Medicine and co-director of the Penn Development Research Initiative. Published in The Lancet HIV, the study by Thirumurthy and co-authors examined the effect on male partner testing, couples testing, and HIV incidence in Kenya by providing women sustained access to HIV self-tests. The five-year project funded by the National Institutes of Health was a cluster-randomized trial conducted among 2,090 women who self-reported multiple sexual partners and lived in areas with high prevalence of transactional sex and HIV. It is the first study to evaluate whether access to free HIV self-tests for an extended period of time enables women to become more aware of their current and potential partners’ HIV status and to reduce their risk of acquiring HIV. Read the full story in Penn Today.