Up to 375 000 Zimbabweans will be able to test themselves of HIV through saliva swabs for the next two years under a $23 million pilot project being spearheaded by Population Services Zimbabwe in partnership with Government.\u00a0In an interview on the sidelines of the 18th International Conference on Aids and STIs (ICASA) underway in Harare, PSI deputy\u00a0 country director, Dr Karin Hatzold, said the pilot project also known as the STAR project, was expected to start in February next year.<\/p>\n
He said the programme would target people lacking access to voluntary counselling and testing services and key populations such as prisoners, commercial sex workers, long distance truck drivers and the youths. \u201cThe aim of this project in the first phase is to build evidence that HIV self-test is feasible and acceptable and can be distributed to different models of HIV testing, which include community based distribution, testing and counselling centres, public sector and key populations,\u201d said Dr Hatzold.<\/p>\n
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