Connecticut Activists Oppose AIDS Reporting Rule

AIDS activists in Connecticut are opposing a state policy designed to track the illness by requiring that the names of HIV-positive residents be reported to the state health department.

According to Darlene Fassett, an outreach coordinator for the AIDS counseling service Stamford Positive Peers, many residents will refuse tests if they can't count on privacy. "People are just petrified that someone will find out the results," she said.

Beginning in January, the state Department of Public Health will require that names be included with reported cases unless a patient requests a "unique identifier," a mix of numbers and letters instead of a name. The policy is Connecticut's response to a federal requirement that all states develop HIV tracking in 2002 or lose federal funding for AIDS prevention and treatment for low-income patients, said Aaron Roome, director of the state's HIV/AIDS Surveillance Program. According to officials, names will keep the state from collecting duplicate reports on some individuals who get tested for HIV more than once at different locations. Currently, the state receives reports on patients diagnosed with AIDS including the patient's age, sex and town of residence.

The new system would require reports for everyone found to be infected with HIV. HIV/AIDS counselors and activists say the new system will discourage people from being tested and skew statistics. "The black and white of it is they don't need names to get the information they want," said Shawn Lang, assistant director of the Hartford-based Connecticut AIDS Residents Coalition. Lang has drafted a petition signed by dozens of AIDS patients and organizations and sent to state Health Commissioner Joxel Garcia asking that the state consider a policy of using only unique identifiers.

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