Walmart and MISTR offer free home HIV tests in Georgia

To combat HIV transmission and improve access to health care in Georgia, telemedicine provider MISTR has partnered with Walmart to offer free at-home HIV testing kits at seven Walmart stores, according to a MISTR press release.

In 2022, the South accounted for 49% of all new HIV cases in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Georgia has one of the highest HIV rates in the country. At the end of 2022, there were 63,984 people living with HIV in Georgia, with 2,575 new diagnoses. In 2021, the Atlanta metropolitan area had the third-highest rate of new HIV diagnoses in the country, with more than 25 out of 100,000 people living with HIV.

“There is an undeniable HIV crisis in Georgia with very few resources available,” said Tristan Schukraft, CEO and founder of MISTR, in the press release. “Not only is this program MISTR’s first retail partnership, but it also addresses the community’s need for care options and increased sexual health education. I am proud that MISTR continues to democratize access to PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), DoxyPEP (doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis), and long-term HIV care and advocate for these underserved individuals.”

The first branches include Atlanta, Ellenwood, Morrow, Decatur and Stockbridge.

Clients can take home HIV test kits, receive their results from MISTR within a week, and are referred to an appropriate treatment site if needed. MISTR offers HIV treatment services such as testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), PrEP, DoxyPEP, and long-term HIV treatment.

About 13% of people with HIV in the United States don’t know they have the virus. Knowing your status is important to protect your health – and that of your partner.

This program follows the launch of DoxyPEP by MISTR in April, which aimed to improve access to the antibiotic that can prevent sexually transmitted infections such as syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea after exposure.

The number of sexually transmitted diseases has increased worldwide in recent decades. According to the CDC, more than 2.5 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis were documented in the United States in 2021.

MISTR has served over 350,000 people in the United States, Washington DC and Puerto Rico. Schukraft, who founded MISTR to provide friends with access to PrEP, plans to open branches across the United States in the coming years to expand its reach.

“For the first time in a generation, we can eliminate HIV if all HIV-negative people take PrEP and all HIV-positive people are virally suppressed,” Schukraft told Axios.

For more information, visit mistr.com.

To read more, click on #HIVtesting or #HIVprevention to see headlines like “Paving the way to an HIV-free generation,” “The Wall Las Memorias opens a new health and HIV center in downtown Los Angeles,” and “STI testing every six months could be enough for PrEP users.”