“In Our Hands”: Community-led film raises awareness of HIV self-testing worldwide
March 2018 - HIV self-testing presents an opportunity to reach the 30% of people with HIV who do not yet know their HIV status. Following the WHO recommendation to use HIV self-testing as an additional HIV testing tool, more countries are starting to develop and implement policies. As of January 2018, 14 countries were actively implementing HIV self-testing services, 42 had developed policies to enable such services, and an additional 47 reported that a policy was in development.
To raise awareness of HIV self-testing around the world, global partner organizations, including WHO, supported development of an innovative outreach tool – a community-led film produced with participation from rural villagers in Malawi.
“In Our Hands” tells the stories of men and women living in Neno, a rural village in Malawi. It documents the experience of learning one’s HIV status through a self-test. It also shows the next steps for those who test positive: linking to services to confirm results and start treatment, and adjusting to life with HIV.
During the 2017 World AIDS Day campaign, “In Our Hands” was screened in several locations including Blantyre, Geneva and London. The film enabled dialogue between policy-makers and communities living with HIV on how HIV self-testing can be made accessible for all.