World Health Organization Urges Routine, Voluntary HIV Testing, Some Advocates Stress Need for Civil Liberties

The World Health Organization is pushing for routine, voluntary HIV testing worldwide, Kevin De Cock, director of WHO's HIV/AIDS Department, said Monday on the sidelines of the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, AFP/Today Online reports. "Only 10% of people living with HIV in the world are aware of their HIV status," De Cock said, adding, "We have to scale up the traditional ways of knowledge, in other words voluntary [testing], counseling and testing." He added that empowering physicians to test for HIV could be instrumental in stemming the spread of the disease. De Cock said, "We have to provide prevention advice and service to people living with HIV. HIV is transmitted by people living with HIV." He added, "Prevention has to be at the center of our response. We're not going to solve this epidemic just by scaling up treatment" (AFP/Today Online, 8/14). De Cock also said that countries cannot increase treatment programs unless more people know their status (Sternberg, USA Today, 8/15).

Concern
Some advocates at the conference expressed concern over potential civil liberty abuses connected to routine HIV testing, saying that testing must be offered alongside treatment and support programs and that informed consent is crucial, BBC News reports. Joanne Csete of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network also said routine testing must be voluntary and preceded by counseling (BBC News, 8/15). Anand Grover, an India-based human rights attorney and project director of the Lawyers Collective HIV Unit, expressed concern that physicians, who have considerable authority in the developing world, might order HIV tests without individuals' consent. In addition, a few dozen protestors on Monday at the conference demonstrated with signs, chanting, "We need more than just a test." According to Julie Davids of the New York-based Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project, the marchers were protesting against "scaling up testing without an immediate scale-up of treatment." Jodi Jacobson, who directs the Center for Health and Gender Equity, said developing countries also need to address the stigma surrounding HIV. Other advocates said that stigma and discrimination prevented people from getting tested, especially when access to treatment is limited, according to USA Today (USA Today, 8/15). Worldwide, 12% of people who want HIV testing have access to it, AFP/Today Online reports. About 0.1% of adults in South and Southeast Asia have received HIV tests, compared with 0.2% in North American and 2.2% in sub-Saharan Africa, according to AFP/Today Online (AFP/Today Online, 8/14).

Kaisernetwork.org is serving as the official webcaster of the conference. View the guide to coverage and all webcasts, interviews and a daily video round up of conference highlights at www.kaisernetwork.org/aids2006. In addition, a video of a plenary session featuring Grover and an interview with De Cock is available online.

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