The GetaKit Project: At-Home HIV Self-Testing & STI Expansion in Ontario

Wednesday, April 27, 2022 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

The COVID-19 pandemic shuttered access to sexual health services in Canada. In response, we implemented on July 20, 2020 the GetaKit project in Ontario, which offers free at-home HIV self-testing. Since implementing GetaKit, we have distributed over 2000 kits, with a positivity rate of 0.4-0.8%. Based on these implementation outcomes and ongoing restricted access to sexual health care, GetaKit is expanding to include mail-out STI testing as well. This presentation will overview GetaKit, its implementation and findings, and mail-out STI expansion.

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss HIV self-testing and its potential role in achieving the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets for HIV
• Learn about GetaKit operations for local implementation
• Understand GetaKit implementation outcomes and STI expansion goals

This webinar will be presented in English. | This webinar will be recorded.

Webinar Speaker

Patrick O’Byrne RN-EC PhD

Dr. O’Byrne is a Full Professor of Nursing and licensed Nurse Practitioner at the University of Ottawa. His clinical and research work focus on the prevention and diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections. Dr. O’Byrne operates a nurse-led HIV PEP and PrEP clinic (PrEP-RN) and is the principal investigator for GetaKit.

Moderator

Dr. Bradley Stoner MD, PhD, Professor and Head, Department of Public Health Sciences; Professor, Department of Medicine, Queen’s University

Dr. Stoner specializes in clinical epidemiology, treatment and prevention of sexually transmitted infections. Prior to his appointment at Queen’s, Dr. Stoner was a faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and served as Medical Director of the St. Louis STD/HIV Prevention Training Center. He is a Past-President of the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association (ASTDA), and is board-certified in infectious diseases and internal medicine.