HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — In 2022, the Alabama Department of Public Health opened a program the allowed people to free home-test for STDs and HIV. The program has been extended for 2023, allowing more Alabamians to home-test privately for chlamydia/gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV.
Here’s how it works.
Residents can request one test every three months, collect samples, and mail them to the Binx Health lab, all free of charge. They will them be notified of testing results and referred for health care if needed. Home collection and results reporting gives people the option of privacy that they might not get at a doctor’s office or health care facility.
Specimen collection kits are mailed to the client’s home and contain supplies to collect urine, swab samples, or blood from a fingerstick. The kit is then mailed to the lab in a prepaid envelope. Results are returned to the clinician who follows up accordingly. This laboratory-conducted test is sensitive enough to detect HIV infection within 2-3 weeks of exposure.
Why does this program exist?
According to ADPH, the program works to increase STD/HIV sample collection and laboratory-based testing by offering home collection kits. One two sexually active young people will get an STD before age 25, and most will not be aware of it. Home sample collection and laboratory-based testing allows people to test for a sexually transmitted infection or HIV, find out their results in their own home or other private location, and be connected to health care resources if needed.
Since 2021, thousands of tests have been ordered with participants in every Alabama county.
Specific information about requesting a test, test results, treatment and follow-up is available at https://adph.mybinxhealth.com/