Lab-accurate testing, delivered to your door
Test from the privacy of home with the same laboratory analysis as a walk-in visit. Order a kit online, collect your sample, book a free courier pickup. Results land in your inbox or WhatsApp in 5 to 7 working days.
What is a home test kit?
The short answer. A home test kit is posted to you with everything needed to collect your own sample. You return it by prepaid courier and the analysis is done in our laboratory, on the same equipment and by the same method as a walk-in sample. Nothing is measured at home, which is why the result is the same.
Kits work for swab, urine and stool samples. Anything needing blood from a vein still needs a nurse, so blood tests are walk-in only. Delivery and return are free within 10km of our Observatory in Cape Town, Parktown North in Johannesburg and Hillcrest in Durban, and R300 flat anywhere else in South Africa. Kits arrive in 1 to 2 business days within 10km, and 2 to 4 business days nationwide.
A home test kit lets you collect your own sample at home and send it to our laboratory for the same molecular analysis we run on walk-in samples. The kit contains everything you need: collection equipment, instructions, return packaging and a free courier pickup. There are no needles and no clinic visit.
Home kits work for tests where the sample is a swab, a urine sample or a stool sample. Anything that needs blood drawn from a vein still needs a trained nurse, so blood tests are not available as a home kit.
How does a home test kit work?
Order online from our shop
Choose your kit from the full range. Pay by card, EFT or Payflex (4 interest-free instalments).
Your kit arrives in discreet packaging
Plain packaging with no logos and no medical stickers. Free delivery within 10km of any branch. R300 flat rate anywhere else in South Africa.
Collect your sample at home
Follow the step-by-step instructions in the kit. Self-collected swab, urine or stool depending on the test. No needles. No blood draw.
Book a free courier pickup
Seal the sample in the packaging provided and book a free courier pickup. Results arrive by email or WhatsApp in 5 to 7 working days. You receive a plain-language report and a standard lab report your doctor will recognise.
What tests are available as a home kit?
We offer home kits across four categories. Each category has options at different levels of detail to suit different needs and budgets. Browse the full range in our shop for prices, package contents and to order.
Sexual health screening From R1,235
STI panels covering chlamydia, gonorrhoea, herpes, HPV, BV and more. Self-collected swab. Choose from quick screening through to comprehensive panels.
HPV screening From R890
27-strain HPV typing. Detects both high-risk strains (linked to cervical cancer) and low-risk strains. Self-collected swab.
Gut health analysis From R2,500
PCR stool analysis covering beneficial bacteria, harmful pathogens, parasites, candida and inflammation markers. Choose essentials, comprehensive or deep-dive options.
UTI and vaginal microbiome From R1,448
Screens for the organisms behind recurrent UTIs and yeast infections, including E. coli, Candida species and S. aureus.
Not sure which kit suits you? Message us on WhatsApp and tell us what you want to find out, or take the quiz on our home page, which covers all four categories rather than sexual health alone.
When a home kit makes sense (and when it does not)
Home testing suits some situations and not others. Here is the honest version, so you do not order a kit and find out it is not right for you.
You can collect your own swab, urine or stool sample
- You want to test in privacy without going to a clinic
- You are screening for STIs, HPV, gut health, UTIs or vaginal microbiome
- You are routinely screening between partners or after travel
- You live too far from a branch to make a walk-in convenient
- You are happy to wait 5 to 7 working days for results
The test you need uses a blood sample
- You need HIV antibody, syphilis or hepatitis B testing
- You want hormone, thyroid, cholesterol or liver function testing
- You need same-day or 24-hour results
- You want a nurse to collect the sample for you
- You want to claim from medical aid with documentation done at the visit
Blood tests need a nurse. HIV antibody, syphilis, hepatitis B, hormones, thyroid, cholesterol and other blood tests cannot be done from a home kit. You can walk in to any branch (Observatory in Cape Town, Hillcrest in Durban, Parktown North in Johannesburg) or book a nurse to come to you. No doctor's referral is needed for either.
Ready to order?
See the full range of home test kits, prices and package details in our shop. Add to cart, check out and your kit is on its way.
How much does delivery cost, and where do you deliver?
Free delivery and pickup within 10km of any branch (Observatory in Cape Town, Hillcrest in Durban, Parktown North in Johannesburg). R300 flat rate for delivery and prepaid return anywhere else in South Africa.
Discounts available: 10% for students via Varsity Vibe, 10% for pensioners. Gut health kits carry the 5% student discount only, and OptiWay food sensitivity testing is excluded from both. All prices include VAT. Payflex is available at checkout (4 interest-free instalments).
Some schemes cover home kits under preventative or chronic benefits, but sexual health PCR usually is not covered as a routine benefit. We give you a tax invoice with the relevant codes and you submit the claim to your scheme. Check with them before you order if coverage matters to your decision. Read more about medical aid claims.
Prefer to collect?
Eight pickup points across Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Durban, where you collect the kit, sample at home, and we collect the sample from you free of charge.
- Cape Town — MyFamilyGP in Sea Point, and Dr Wendy Dicks's practice at 99 Kloof Street, Gardens
- Stellenbosch — Stelkor at Piet Retief Street, Neelsie Building and Simonsrust, plus MySexualHealth
- Durban Central — WITS MRU
Gut kits are different. The only third-party pickup point for gut kits is Dr David Nye's office in Pinelands, Cape Town. Otherwise gut kits go by courier, or you can collect from any branch.