Licensed home tests will be introduced to reduce undiagnosed HIV

The government is to introduce licensed home testing for HIV in the United Kingdom in a bid to reduce the number of people who don’t know they are infected. But it has rejected calls to run a general publicity campaign to educate the public about transmission of HIV.

An estimated quarter of the 100 000 people in the United Kingdom infected with HIV are unaware of their infection. The level of infection is extremely high in certain high risk groups. Across the UK one in 20 men who have sex with men are infected, the proportion rising to one in 10 in London and one in seven in central London.

Norman Fowler, chairman …