HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Hong Kong stays out of control. HIV testing is one of the recommended prevention strategies, especially since timely treatment with good adherence can reduce risk of transmission by more than 90%. Still, local HIV testing rate among MSM remained low, with 34-57% never tested for HIV. Self-testing is a promising means to increase testing coverage, and test kits are already widely available for order online or at local drug stores. The problem is, some do not know how to use the kit, and others rather not test at all in case they cannot cope with a positive result. Yet existing services offered by NGOs do not offer pre-testing counselling or instructions on how to use test kits. As these services are mostly free of charge, NGOs may find them hard to sustain without external funding.

The team has seen significant increase in testing rate with online supporting services on their trial run. The team hence moves on to build a full-cost recovery service model for NGOs to eventually run on their own. They are putting forward two tiers of chargeable online services (HK$250 for comprehensive services, HK$150 for simplified), integrating real-time instructions and pre-test/post-test counselling with HIV self-testing. The model is highly sustainable, easily transferable to other NGOs and even other high-risk groups, offering higher privacy and convenience with its online nature, while preserving counselling component from traditional testing models. The team is organising training workshops for staff of AIDS Concern, the largest NGO working on HIV prevention in Hong Kong, and online administrators to implement the model.

The coverage of HIV testing thus detection of positive cases has increased. Self-testing is proven in curbing risks of secondary HIV transmission and sexual risk behaviours, crucial in controlling the spread of HIV, thus reducing medical costs. Given the full cost-recovery nature, this service can be sustained by NGOs and serves as an exemplar of strengthening collaboration between the academia and the social welfare sector. Having taken up the model, AIDS Concern will lead its future implementation and development. The project team will continue transferring the experience and offer consultancy to other NGOs to further the service or adapt it for other at-risk populations, such as sex workers.

– 1600 MSM – 1 NGO

2019

Healthcare: Diagnostic, Well-being