At-home HIV testing kits: thoughts and experiences?

The technology for DIY HIV home testing kits is actually ready to go, but there’s currently no way to get them onto store shelves because of various regulatory hurdles—some legal, some just practical reality.

Do you guys think we should legalize the sale of at-home HIV tests?

Right now, if someone gets a positive result, they're hearing it from a trained medical professional who can immediately step in with support and next steps. You just don't get that with a home kit, unless you factor in some kind of 24/7 free counseling hotline and a massive manual full of instructions and mental health resources inside the box.

When someone faces a bad diagnosis in a clinic, they're in a controlled, informed environment that helps them wrap their head around what’s happening. Can we really expect the same level of clarity from someone sitting alone in their bathroom, where unlike a doctor's office, you aren't getting any guidance before you even take the test?

On the flip side, could home testing actually help strip away the stigma and fear surrounding the process, potentially driving up the number of people getting tested regularly? We already have over-the-counter options for drug tests and pregnancy tests, so why shouldn't we have them for HIV too?

If you’re asking me, I wouldn't allow it. Why? Because, like you mentioned in your post, a potential positive result could really mess with someone's head. That's why we have trained professionals available to talk to people both before and after they get their results, regardless of what they find. Usually, the questions are things like, "What led you to decide to test in the first place?" and so on.
The test you're talking about was actually pulled from the market because positive findings—even false positives—were linked to instances of suicide in a few cases. Because of that, those kind of instant HIV tests were removed from the European market. Only the USA kept these types of tests available for over-the-counter sale.

As far as I can tell, public sales by non-medical institutions are actually prohibited over in the United States and even in other parts of the States.
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si1992/Uksi_19920460_en_1.htm

No, what you posted isn't actually an old article. If you're looking to pick it up, you can probably find it on Amazon or eBay.
I'm not sure if you're asking because you want to get tested, but I would definitely RECOMMEND visiting any local CDC facility across the US. Testing is completely anonymous and free of charge.

I'm not actually asking because I want to run some personal experiments; I'm just trying—and failing miserably—to kick off a real debate here. 😁

I guess I'm just not a fan of those at-home tests. Think about it. If someone finds out they're positive while they're alone at home, practically nobody else knows. A person could—maybe they won't, but they might—get so angry that they become some kind of aggressive predator, taking it out on their next tenant. Some people might even resort to suicide, while others might turn into predators. If these people found out their NEW status through an official institution, they wouldn't be able to act like that anymore because they'd be on the radar.

Wait... how exactly does keeping records at a facility stop someone from intentionally spreading a virus like some kind of reckless interceptor? As far as I know, record-keeping doesn't involve electronic surveillance or SWAT teams rushing in just because a detector flagged unprotected sexual activity. 😉

True, there isn't any electronic tracking, but the records are all there. A person like
could actually face criminal charges—not to mention prison time—if they intentionally spread the infection further. It’s one thing if someone infects another person without realizing it, but it's entirely different when they do it on purpose.