Self-testing is often referred to as “home-testing” and involves the end-user carrying out all test procedures. Whereas it used to be illegal to sell or advertise HIV self-testing kits in the United Kingdom, these restrictions were lifted in April 2014. Testing kits that are designed to be used by members of the public can now be sold, provided that the kit carries a CE mark. The CE mark shows that the product meets European requirements for test performance and safety.

So far, no manufacturer has produced an HIV self-testing kit that has a CE mark. At the moment, there aren’t any HIV self-test kits that can be legally sold in the United Kingdom, although this may change soon.

When self-testing kits become available, they are likely to be modified versions of antibody point of care tests. In the United States, one test has been approved for sale. The OraQuick test has been simplified for use by non-professionals, so that it can only test oral fluid (rather than fingerprick blood). A trial found that specificity was 99.98% and sensitivity was 93.0% – lower than for the professional version, probably due to more user errors. Moreover, this is an antibody test and so is unable to detect recent infection. However, these limitations may be counter-balanced by the potential of self-testing to improve the uptake of HIV testing.