Thousands of free HIV self-test kits distributed across Canada to mark World AIDS Day

As over 6,000 Canadians live with undiagnosed HIV, the federal government plans to give away roughly 200,000 free self-test kits with the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

Friday, Dec. 1, marks World AIDS Day and the start of Indigenous AIDS Awareness Week in Canada. According to public health data, 18 per cent of new cases in Canada are among Indigenous peoples.

An Ontario study found that African, Caribbean and Black people living with HIV were less likely to know their status (85 per cent) than the general Canadian population (90 per cent).

“For Indigenous peoples, we’ve been struggling with the social determinants of health, lack of funding for housing, employment and the mobility of Indigenous peoples from roll-on reserve communities to urban,” said Albert McLeod, a consultant specializing in HIV/AIDS and Indigenous peoples.

Public health group CATIE is part of the federal government’s strategy to distribute 200,000 HIV self-testing kits. To date, 10,000 online orders have been completed, and Ottawa is spending $8 million on the free kits.

McLeod says the kits help those living in remote communities.

“In the last year or so, we’ve been trying to distribute these kits across Canada to harder-to-reach populations to get to the undiagnosed,” said McLeod.

“To work with community facilitators, to do that outreach, that promotion in different sectors of society so that people become aware of this new technology around HIV testing.”

Jody Jollimore, CATIE’s executive director, said Canada is not far enough along in terms of how it engages specific populations in care.

“We see the impacts of that in HIV. We have all the tools we need to prevent [and] to test to treat HIV in this country. We’re just not getting them to the right people,” he said.

Public Health estimates there were more than 1,500 new HIV infections in Canada in 2020. Women, men who have sex with men, and injectable drug users make up a large portion of new cases. One-third of new Canadian infections are contracted through heterosexual sex.

“We’ve got to continue to invest in HIV until we get across the finish line because otherwise, we’re going to leave a lot of people behind,” Jollimore added.

“One out of 10 HIV-positive Canadians still do not know they are living with the virus. We need to make testing as simple and convenient as possible, and self-testing is part of that.”

Here is how you can order a free testing kit.