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The Center for Disease Control (CDC) Division of HIV Prevention, in partnership with Emory University, Building Healthy Online Communities (BHOC), NASTAD, Signal Group, and OraSure Technologies, is announcing the launch of Together TakeMeHome (TTMH), a project with the goal of distributing up to 1 million free HIV self-tests over the next five years. People in the US, including Puerto Rico, can order up to two free HIV self-tests every 90 days via a new online portal. Tests are available to anyone 17 years or older, regardless of health insurance or immigration status.
Priority audiences for the program and the Let’s Stop HIV Together (Together) campaign outreach include populations with disproportionately high HIV incidence, including:
- Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, particularly Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino gay, and bisexual men
- Black/African American cisgender women
- Transgender women of all races and ethnicities
HIV testing is a critical HIV prevention strategy and a key first step in the continuum of HIV care, yet too many people are unaware of their HIV status. By offering free HIV self-tests through mail delivery, TTMH addresses common barriers to HIV testing, such as stigma, privacy concerns, cost, and lack of access to HIV clinics, giving people who otherwise might not have tested an opportunity to know their status. TTMH will be the largest HIV self-testing program in US history, bolster prevention and treatment efforts across the nation, and promote equity by expanding testing options for people facing social and structural barriers to accessing traditional testing venues.
Learn More About TTMH
This project is based on research that showed this type of HIV self-testing is effective and cost-saving. Multiple studies have demonstrated the value of self-testing for increasing the frequency of HIV testing, identifying new diagnoses, and reaching people who reported that they have never previously tested for HIV. The new TTMH program expands on a prior program where CDC, Emory, BHOC, and other partners distributed 100,000 free HIV self-tests in eight months. The outreach was conducted as part of CDC’s Together campaign and effectively reached priority populations, 26 percent of whom reported never having tested for HIV. As a result of this success, CDC expanded the model to work toward achieving the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) initiative’s goal of reducing new infections by 90 percent by 2030.
The CDC Division of HIV Prevention invites colleagues in HIV care and advocacy, health care, and public health to join in sharing and promoting TTMH to their priority populations. Scaling up TTMH to one million tests can have a resounding impact on HIV prevention efforts in the US, but its success will rely heavily on collaborative efforts.
Help Raise Awareness
Join the CDC Division of HIV Prevention in raising awareness about HIV self-testing by downloading and sharing resources from CDC’s Together campaign, the national campaign of both the EHE initiative and the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. Together is an evidence-based campaign created in English and Spanish that aims to empower communities, partners, and health care providers to reduce HIV stigma and promote HIV testing, prevention, and treatment. You can also share social media content from CDC’s self-testing digital toolkit using the #HIVTestMyWay, #AutoPruebasDelVIH, and #StopHIVTogether hashtags. Together, we can work to address HIV disparities and enhance HIV testing efforts among people most affected by HIV.
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