The city health department has been giving away free in-home HIV test kits in an effort to reach more communities facing heightened HIV risk, including men who have sex with men and transgender women who have sex with men.

The department has provided 12,000 test kits through multiple waves of the initiative, which was launched in 2015 and remains active today. The in-home tests, which consist of oral swabs and yield results in 20-40 minutes, are promoted by the city through a campaign of targeted advertisements on social media platforms and dating apps including Grindr, Scruff, BGCLive, Jack’d, Hornet, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. In subsequent waves, the program was also promoted in Spanish.

Those who view the advertisement and click on it are directed to a survey presenting a series of questions to determine the person’s eligibility for the in-home test. Individuals are required to be either men, transgender, or intersex, have had sex with a man in the last year, live in New York City, be at least18 years old, and not already have an HIV diagnosis — though through a subsequent, separate initiative the health department is reaching out more broadly. Read more via Gay City News