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SELF-testing for HIV from the privacy of your own home looks to be on the horizon in Australia.

This is聽a welcomed development聽by many and is seen as an incredibly useful tool in the arsenal of HIV detection.

The Kirby Institute outlined their findings聽of聽the聽Frequency of Oral Rapid Testing at Home (FORTH)聽study at the AIDS 2016 conference in Durban, which revealed the use of self-testing kits had actively聽contributed to聽an聽increase in the amount of testing among participants.

“Self-testing has particular value for people who are at risk of HIV who may not聽attend clinics as much as they need to or who may not attend clinics at all,” Associate Professor Rebecca Guy from the Kirby Insitute聽said at the conference聽.

“Self-testing needs to be considered as another option in addition to the existing聽ones.”

Though available overseas, these direct to consumer products still聽require the approval of the聽Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in Australia.

Atomo Diagnostics is preparing to conduct a local trial that is necessary in order to apply to the TGA.

The company’s self-testing product has proven to be 99.8 per cent accurate in a European study.

Their products would be available without prescription for $15-$20 and give a result within 15 minutes.