SINGAPORE - Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) self-testing kits will be available for purchase at selected Guardian and Watsons pharmacies nationwide by end-January 2025.

The self-test kits will have an oral swab for detecting the body’s natural antibodies, and results can be obtained within about 20 minutes.

The rollout is part of the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) efforts to enhance access to HIV testing within the community and encourage regular testing, said Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary on Nov 30.

He was speaking at the 14th edition of the Singapore AIDS Conference organised by non-governmental organisation Action for AIDS Singapore (AfA Singapore).

Dr Janil said the initiative to introduce HIV self-testing started as a pilot programme in 2022 led by the National HIV Programme, with community partners AfA and the Department of Sexually Transmitted Infections Control (DSC) clinic.

“In that process, HIV self testing has been shown to be safe, to be effective and to be widely accepted among the key populations and the general public,” he said.

The OraQuick HIV Self-Test Kit is also on sale on National Skin Centre Pharmacy’s website at $21.85.

There were 209 new cases of HIV infections reported among Singapore residents in 2023. The total number of HIV-infected Singapore residents stood at 9,540 as at end 2023, of whom 2,457 died.

Dr Janil said the 95-95-95 targets set by UNAIDS aim to have ...