« Drug Access = Drug Profits? | Main | PEPFAR Redux »
May 30, 2007
Guidelines for Expanded Testing
The World Health Organization now advises making an HIV test a part of routine care in parts of the world hardest hit by AIDS. Evidence suggests that making tests more regular goes a long way to cutting down the vast majority of infected people who do not know it. "Those who do not know they are infected are more likely to infect others and less likely to seek early treatment, experts said. That means it costs more and takes more effort to save them with antiretroviral drugs," writes Sharon LaFraniere in the New York Times.
"Still, some human rights advocates have argued that because of the stigma of AIDS, no one should be pushed to take a test that could lead to the loss of their employment or abandonment by their families," she writes. Others argue that normalizing testing will go a long way to normalizing HIV.
The real rub is here, however: "... the new policy would likely depend on hiring and training more low-level health care workers because there are far too few doctors or nurses in low-income countries to handle the task."
Posted by Adam Graham-Silverman at May 30, 2007 11:46 AM