Testing policies and guidelines

Guidance sets out when and how HIV testing should be carried out. Policy and guidelines are usually written for healthcare workers. Guidance may include best practice on practical issues of testing, as well as when to offer an HIV test.

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  • UNAIDS calls for Zero parallel systems for HIV and TB

    UNAIDS is calling for Zero parallel systems for HIV and TB. This means that HIV and TB systems should be fully integrated, every person living with HIV is tested for TB and that every person with TB is offered an HIV test, and people with TB who are HIV-positive are started on antiretroviral treatment immediately.

    20 March 2013 | UNAIDS

  • Current HIV screening guidelines are too conservative

    Two Northwestern University researchers report that the CDC's current HIV screening guidelines are too conservative and that more frequent testing would be cost-effective in the long run for both high- and low-risk groups. The researchers performed a mathematical modeling study to assess "optimal testing frequencies" for HIV screening in different risk groups. They concluded screening should be done up to every three months for the highest-risk individuals and low-risk groups should be tested every three years.

    13 March 2013 | Eurekalert Inf Dis

  • Proposal to Allow HIV Tests on Alleged Rapists in South Africa

    If positive, they would be charged with attempted murder.

    13 March 2013 | Poz magazine news

  • West Virginia Advances Bill to Charge for HIV Testing

    With pressure from lessening federal funds driving their actions, the West Virginia Senate pushed forward a bill on March 7 that would allow local health departments to charge individuals fees for STD testing.

    12 March 2013 | CDC National Prevention Information Network

  • Michigan's HIV Testing Scandal

    In researching alleged 2011 Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) data breaches, investigative reporter Todd Heywood discovered that MDCH “secretly collected” personal information—names, dates of birth, risk categories, and other demographic data—on people (and their partners) who went to government grant-funded organizations for confidential testing. Heywood reports that the state is using the private information in civil and criminal cases against HIV-infected people who present a “health threat.”

    08 March 2013 | CDC National Prevention Information Network

  • Ghana: Stop Mandatory HIV Test

    The Ghana AIDS Commission has advised pastors who ask their members to undergo a mandatory HIV test before they bless their marriages to stop the practice.

    01 March 2013 | AllAfrica.com

  • Uganda: Civil Society Opposed to Mandatory HIV Testing

    Civil Society organizations (CSOs) have called for a repeal of mandatory HIV testing clause as envisaged in the HIV/AIDS and Control Bill, 2010, saying such a policy would drive the scourge "underground" instead of scaling down the recent increase in infections. The CSOs also called for repeal of clauses that mandate disclosure of HIV status to third parties, allow medical personnel to disclose one's HIV status to one's sex partner, and the criminalization of intentional and attempted transmission of HIV/AIDS.

    01 March 2013 | Allafrica.com

  • Uganda: Rights body opposes mandatory HIV testing

    The Uganda Human Rights Commission has opposed mandatory HIV testing as envisaged in the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Bill that is before parliament. The bill provides for routine HIV testing of victims of sexual offences, pregnant women and their partners, but the commission is of the view that the provision does not specifically state as to whether their consent is necessary - suggesting that testing would be mandatory.

    28 February 2013 | New Vision

  • Uganda: Health Ministry Says HIV Testing Not Compulsory

    The Ministry of Health has today, Feb.26, come out to clarify recent media reports that all people seeking treatment from public health facilities across the country will be required to undergo mandatory HIV testing first.

    27 February 2013 | AllAfrica

  • Uganda: Concern over mandatory HIV testing raised by civil society groups

    Civil society organisations in Teso, eastern Uganda have asked the government to go slow in its plans to commence mandatory HIV testing in public health centers across the country this year. more →

    18 February 2013 | Key Correspondents
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