Field evaluation of capillary blood and oral-fluid HIV self-tests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Our field observations demonstrate that blood-based and oral-fluid-based HIVST are both practicable approaches with a high and comparable rate of accuracy in the study setting. Although preference for the oral-fluid test was generally greater, preference for the blood test was greater among participants with a university education, a high risk of HIV infection, and knowledge about the existence of HIVST. Both approaches seem complementary in the sense that users can choose the type of self-test that best suits them for a similar result. Taken together, our observations support the use of the two HIV self-test kits in the DRC.