Molecular Testing Labs (Molecular), the nation’s leading provider of diagnostic testing on patient-collected samples, announced today it has partnered with Black Women’s Health Imperative (BWHI), the first nonprofit organization created by Black women to help protect and advance the health and wellness of Black women and girls, to provide free HIV self-testing kits.
Black women are infected with HIV more than women of any other race or ethnicity due to several challenges including financial hardship, an absence of quality health care and a distrust of providers, higher rates of some sexually transmitted infections, smaller sexual networks, and stigma. Lack of awareness of their HIV status is also a factor, one this new process strives to eliminate, along with other barriers such as not being able to readily access a facility where they can get tested.
The kits are available through BWHI’s website as part of the On Our Own Terms initiative, which aims to encourage women to know their HIV status and own the decisions made around sexual health and wellness. These kits allow women to collect their samples in the privacy of their own home. BWHI’s On Our Own Terms initiative has also created an informed network of organizations and experts focused on the prevention of HIV for, by and about Black cisgender and transgender women, as well as the care and treatment of women living with HIV.
“We know that routine testing is key to HIV prevention and treatment. When you consider that HIV affects Black women more than women of any other race or ethnicity, this partnership is especially important,” said Molecular co-founder James York. “We hope that in providing these test kits, we can remove barriers to HIV prevention and treatment to get more people tested.”
“Black women continue to be left out of the HIV prevention and treatment conversation even though we have the greatest disparity among all women,” said Linda Goler Blount, BWHI President and CEO. “In creating the On Our Own Terms initiative, we want to encourage more women to make HIV testing part of their routine, even if they don’t engage in risky behavior. We also want these women to know that participating in a dialogue with their partners about their status is another step in helping to keep them safe.”
