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This is everyone business. It will open people eyes up. people feel if you look good you don't have it,how wrong they are. If everyone is tested we will force them to find a better medication or take care of it all together. To many are (opting out) to take the test because they are scared. Been there,done that. They need to know all states should agree. Also some people know they have it and they are out there spreading it around. Think about if this was done to your child. Would you like it.
why not have a system like australia, where you are tested as a mater of routine when admitted to hospital.
This should be a privacy issue between you and your personal health care provider. Taking away the individual rights of people under the guise of protecting everyone is wrong. Ask yourself the question, where will this eroding of privacy rights end? Plus, if allowed to happen, where are the protections for those people who most likely will be discriminated against concerning housing, jobs and family relationships. All this is at risk. I say no way...
If everyone has to be tested for HIV then a lot of Stigma will stop, because so many who thought of HIV as a gay or sinners virus will not look at it that way when they find out they have it themselves. Also, as far as cost concearns, once we all realize how many people really have it, then they will have to come up with a better health plan. It is simple... To stop Stigma you have to stop HIV & to stop HIV means to get everyone tested!
I agree with steps, everyone should be tested for HIV. Locating all the poz people is the first step and must be done. Yes, the cost of HIV medications are high, but they prolong life. HIV Testing should be a requirement prior to enrolling in any publically funded school, from preK to College. Just get it done, 25 years into living with HIV now AIDS and watching my dear friends pass away from this long fought battle has taken more American lives than in Iraq.
Yes I think we need to take action to STOP the epidemic. We have the medicine to control this and I say YES YES YES.
Yes, testing everyone is ok if America is ready for the challenges that this will present. How are we going to treat these people with medications? What about the need for counseling for many of these people to accept their diagnosis? Finally, the stigma associated with this disease will need to be addressed. Like I said, testing everyone is good but what else will we do for these people.
David Munar
Leslie Wolf's PLoS ONE article, cited above, is deeply flawed. It references state policy applying only to community-based testing, not testing in medical settings, and, most egregious, mischararacterizes CDC recommendations as opposing informed consent. CDC states explicitly that informed consent should be preserved. Learn more about a rights-based approach to testing expansion at hivtestingprinciples.org and aidschicago.org.
December 2, 2007 • Chicago