Australians will soon be able to test themselves for HIV after the federal government announced that restrictions preventing the manufacture and sale of oral home-testing kits have been lifted.

This will enable kits to be sold straight to customers in the hope it leads to early detection and treatment in a bid to stop the virus be spread.

The government unveiled its 2014-2017 national strategies on HIV, hepatitis B and C, sexually transmissible infections (STIs) and a special strategy on targeting blood borne viruses and STIs in the indigenous community.

The HIV strategy aims to reduce the sexual transmission of HIV by 50 per cent by 2015, as a key step towards a 2020 elimination target.

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