Retail big Walmart and MISTR, a telemedicine supplier providing free on-line STI testing, PrEP, DoxyPEP and long-term HIV care, have launched a pilot program providing free at-home HIV testing kits to prospects from seven Walmart shops in Georgia.
The checks require a finger prick. Step-by-step directions and an educational video are included in every package to make sure every check is completed appropriately.
The pilot program will final till provides final. To start out, round 3,000 kits will likely be out there at every location.
“The thought is to supply these free HIV check kits indefinitely, assuming there’s demand,” Tristan Schukraft, founder and CEO of MISTR, advised MobiHealthNews through e mail. “By providing at-home HIV check kits to folks free of charge, we’re enabling them to check on their very own time, within the consolation and privateness of their very own properties.”
Past that, MISTR is taking issues one step additional by giving them entry to free remedy and follow-up care by means of the corporate’s telehealth platform ought to there be a constructive end result.
“The final word objective of providing free HIV check kits through Walmart is to assist cease the HIV epidemic,” Schukraft stated. “We’d like to run out of check kits on day one, however our final objective is to remove HIV in Atlanta and all through the nation.”
He stated folks want entry to those checks in rural areas the place it’s onerous to get to a clinic, and Walmart is a perfect accomplice for offering simply that.
“It is vital to succeed in all communities, and Walmart is nicely positioned in rural areas the place entry to free HIV testing is often not out there, and/or sufferers really feel uncomfortable searching for an HIV check from a neighborhood supplier in a tight-knit neighborhood,” he stated.
THE LARGER TREND
Georgia has one of many highest charges within the nation for brand spanking new HIV transmissions.
The CDC recommends that everybody aged 13 to 64 be examined for HIV a minimum of as soon as as a part of routine well being care and a minimum of yearly for these at larger threat.
Among the many 2 million folks with HIV within the U.S., an estimated 13% have no idea they’re residing with HIV, and this share accounts for almost 40% of latest transmissions.
Consciousness of HIV standing permits those that are constructive to have interaction in HIV remedy, which optimizes well being outcomes, reduces viral load (the quantity of virus within the physique) and prevents transmission.
