Effectiveness of HIV Self-testing on Regular HIV Testing Among Ever-Tested Men Who Have Sex Men in China: A Pragmatic...

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the effectiveness of HIV self-testing (HIVST) on promoting regular HIV testing, which defined as having uptake HIV testing every three to 6 months, among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Guangzhou, China. 491 ever-tested MSM were recruited from a community-based HIV clinic and randomly assigned into either intervention arm that provided text message plus HIVST service (n = 250) or standard of care arm (n = 241) being a text message promoting HIV testing every 3 months. Overall, 73.7% (330/448) of the participants had uptake HIV testing, and 27.7% (124/448) of them reported ever used of an HIV self-test during study period. HIVST significantly increased regularly HIV testing among participants in the intervention arm compared with standard of care arm (77.4% vs 69.5%). HIVST as a supplement to the existing facility-based testing services is promising in promoting regular HIV testing among MSM in China. Trial registration number: ChiCTR1800016811.