Nova Scotia expanding STI home testing to include HIV screening

Nova Scotia Health is expanding its STI home-testing kit program to include HIV screening.

The STI Care Now initiative has been helping Nova Scotians get tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea since last summer.

Since then, thousands of kits have been mailed out. Those kits contain everything from instructions to swabs.

And it seems to be working.

“Out of those 3,000 kits, there were 120 positives,” said Dr. Todd Hatchette, STI Care Now Medical Director. “We are reaching people. We are finding STIs and we are treating those individuals.”

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Nova Scotia Health’s decision to expand the program to include HIV screening is being done in partnership with the Health Equity Alliance of Nova Scotia.

Hatchette says there have been more cases of the virus over the last year and the at-home screening will be vital in identifying who needs further testing.

“The point of care test we’re using is a screening test. That person will then be linked in to get proper bloodwork to ensure we can prove whether they have HIV or not,” said Hatchette.

The alliance recommends anyone who is sexually active should get tested, and warns that infections are possible without symptoms.

A kit can be requested by filling out an online questionnaire through Nova Scotia Health’s website or the Your Health NS app.

The alliance’s executive director, Chris Aucoin, applauds the inclusion of HIV screening and hopes the program will expand even further down the road.

“Sexual health testing in Nova Scotia capacity-wise has been abysmal for decades. It has been a real challenge,” said Aucoin.

“We want to add syphilis as well, but the point of care test that does that, we have to prove that it works in a home setting when an individual administers it themselves,” Hatchette said.