Around 37 million people worldwide live with HIV or AIDS and there are an estimated 1.8 million new cases every year. [1] To help customers check for HIV on their own terms and identify if they need to seek treatment, Boots UK has introduced the BioSURE HIV Self Test kit.

Early diagnosis is crucial for HIV treatment, and self-testing provides a vital role in the prevention of late diagnosis, which remains stubbornly high. Although overall diagnoses are declining, late diagnoses count for about 40% overall with this group facing a tenfold increased risk of early mortality. [2]

The BioSURE HIV Self Test is extremely simple to use – it needs only a fraction of a drop of blood to give an easy to read and accurate result in just 15 minutes.

BioSURE has been used by over 300,000 people worldwide. It will be stocked and available to buy in Boots stores and also available to order online via the Boots website, and can be delivered to a specific store or to a home address for next day delivery.

By making the test widely available, Boots UK helps accessibility of self-testing reach a ‘turning point’ on the UK high street and helps support the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) and partners to meet the ‘90-90-90 targets’ to beat AIDS by 2030. [3]

Marc Donovan, Chief Pharmacist, Boots UK, says: “Community pharmacy is well placed to support patients to manage their own health and we can play a much bigger role in supporting the health of our customers through the delivery of new products, services and advice.

“Our Boots Pharmacists are also able to have complete care conversations with customers when purchasing products like the BioSURE HIV Self Test kit, to ensure they get much quicker access to appropriate advice, whether to seek support from their GP or signpost them to further resources.”

The HIV Self Test kit was created by BioSURE, a specialist diagnostic company who developed the world’s first approved HIV self-test to use blood and is now the market leading HIV self-test provider in the UK. The privately owned business has also already launched across South Africa, has launches underway in Kenya and Brazil, with many more countries in the pipeline.

 

[1] BBC News, ‘Dangerous complacency' to global HIV epidemic risks resurgence’, 2018

[2] Public Health Matters, Leaving it late: why are people still dying from HIV in the UK?, 2014

[3] http://www.aidsmap.com/resources/Achieving-the-90-90-90-target/page/3041530/