It is estimated that only 70% of people living with HIV know their HIV status. Countries are looking for ways to rapidly increase access to and use of HIV testing services, especially for populations with low service coverage and at higher risk that would otherwise would not carry out a screening test.

One approach is HIV self-testing, which means that the person does the HIV diagnostic test and interprets the results in private.

WHO has been working on HIV self-testing since April 2013. In 2016, WHO published the first global recommendations and guidelines for HIV self-testing.