A previous regulation banning such sales was revoked on December 23 by the SA Pharmacy Council.
It is still not clear whether pharmacies have already begun selling the tests.
But University of KwaZulu-Natal senior pharmacology lecturer Andy Gray said: “The removal of the outright ban is enough to enable legal sale.”
Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute deputy director Prof Francois Venter said the law that had prevented only pharmacies from selling HIV self tests but had allowed other retailers to sell them was an odd prohibition.
Large online stores such as Takealot do sell World Health Organisation-approved HIV home tests that use a pin prick of blood to give results within 15 minutes and are considered at least 99% accurate.
“Having HIV tests available over the counter could make it easier for people to test for HIV in the privacy of their own homes and may increase testing uptake,” Venter said.
The South African government plans to have 90% of people aware of their HIV status and 90% of HIV-positive people accessing treatment by 2020, in line with UN goals.
“I am aware that many pharmacies sold the HIV tests used in health care settings, under the counter,” Venter said.
“You could buy them openly on the shelf in the international section of OR Tambo, next to other self tests, like for malaria,” Venter said.
The SA HIV Clinicians Society has long called for HIV self-test kits to be available over the counter at pharmacies and has previously said the belief that people would harm themselves if they tested positive at home was paternalistic.
