What works for generating demand for HIV testing services

Overview
Globally, one in five people with HIV are unaware of their status, despite considerable scale up of HIV testing, treatment and prevention services. Many of those unreached by HIV testing services (HTS) are from key populations, partners of people with HIV and, in Eastern and southern Africa, men and young people. Improving the availability, accessibility, friendliness and quality of services is important to address these testing gaps.
At the same time, tools and interventions that increase the demand for HTS are needed to reach people who are uninformed about HTS options and advances in treatment and prevention, people who are not motivated to seek HTS and those who are hesitant to test because of fear of an HIV diagnosis or other reasons.
Related policy briefs
- Consolidated guidelines on HIV testing services for a changing epidemic
- WHO encourages countries to adapt HIV testing strategies in response to changing epidemic
- WHO recommends social network-based HIV testing approaches for key populations as part of partner services package
- Dual HIV/syphilis rapid diagnostic tests can be used as the first test in antenatal care
- WHO recommends HIV self-testing – evidence update and considerations for success
- WHO encourages countries to adapt HIV testing strategies in response to changing epidemic
Web annexes
- Annex A - GRADE Table: Which demand creation approaches are effective for increasing uptake of HIV testing and onward linkage to prevention, treatment and care? (PDF, 654 KB)
- Annex B - GRADE Table: Should HIV self-testing be offered as an additional HIV testing approach? (PDF, 619 KB)
- Annex C - GRADE Table: Should social network-based approaches be offered as an additional HIV testing approach for key populations and their contacts? (PDF, 437 KB)
- Annex D - GRADE Table: Should western blotting and line immunoassays be used in national testing strategies and algorithms? (PDF, 665 KB)
- Annex E - Abstract: Performance of HIV testing strategies: considerations for global guideline development (PDF, 299 KB)
- Annex F - Abstract: Modelling the cost-effectiveness of maternal HIV retesting in high- and low-HIV burden settings (PDF, 388 KB)
- Annex G - Abstract: Modelling the cost-effectiveness of using HIV/syphilis dual tests in antenatal care in high and low HIV burden settings (PDF, 240 KB)
- Annex H - Considerations for monitoring HIV testing services programmes (PDF, 253 KB)
- Annex I - In vitro diagnostics for HIV diagnosis (PDF, 313 KB)
- Annex J- Ensuring the quality of HIV testing services (PDF, 276 KB)
- Annex K - Global examples of HIV testing services (PDF, 1.7 MB)
- Annex L - Symptom and risk-based screening to optimize HIV testing services: a scoping review (PDF, 727 KB)