Why are service providers becoming so aggressive

Jun 06, 2013

Recently I took my niece whose mother died of HIV/AIDS for testing but was shocked when the nurse insisted that I also take the test with the child, which I did not like since I am not the biological mother of the child.

QDear Doctor, 
Recently I took my niece whose mother died of HIV/AIDS for testing but was shocked when the nurse insisted that I also take the test with the child, which I did not like since I am not the biological mother of the child.
 
Why are service providers becoming so aggressive with testing people for HIV or is this the policy at the moment? 
Carmella
 
 
ADear Carmella, 
It is unfortunate if you were forced to take an HIV test. HIV testing should be voluntary. However, we now encourage what is referred to as provider initiated counselling and testing (PICT), where everyone who goes to a health facility is counselled and offered an HIV test regardless of their complaints. 
 
Probably this is what the nurse was trying to do, although you viewed it as being too aggressive. The problem is that many Ugandans do not know their HIV status. 
 
We have about one million adults infected with HIV/AIDS in Uganda. We need to identify all these people and put them under care, including antiretroviral therapy or treatment with ARVs if they are eligible. 
 
This is one way of stopping new infections, which stand at over 100,000 annually; and preventing people developing AIDS after living with HIV for a long time without knowing it. 
 
All new infections occur because there is discordance; where one person has HIV and the other does not have it.
 
So, to stop new infections we must find all those who have the virus and teach them how they can avoid passing it on to others; while we teach those who do not have it how they can avoid acquiring it.

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