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Bring in vital HIV home testing kits, say
Lords.
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| Subject: |
HIV infection
(Prevention) HIV infection (Social aspects) HIV infection (Diagnosis) Medical testing products (Laws, regulations and rules) HIV testing (Laws, regulations and rules) |
| Pub Date: | 10/01/2011 |
| Publication: | Name: Community Practitioner Publisher: Ten Alps Publishing Audience: Academic Format: Magazine/Journal Subject: Health; Health care industry Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 Ten Alps Publishing ISSN: 1462-2815 |
| Issue: | Date: Oct, 2011 Source Volume: 84 Source Issue: 10 |
| Topic: | Event Code: 290 Public affairs; 930 Government regulation; 940 Government regulation (cont); 980 Legal issues & crime Advertising Code: 94 Legal/Government Regulation Computer Subject: Government regulation |
| Organization: | Government Agency: United Kingdom. House of Lords |
| Geographic: | Geographic Scope: United Kingdom Geographic Code: 4EUUK United Kingdom |
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| Accession Number: | 268962051 |
| Full Text: |
The current ban on HIV home testing kits should be overturned
according to a House of Lords committee, which described the restriction
as 'unsustainable'. The committee was charged with looking into ways to manage and prevent the rise of HIV and AIDS in the UK, in light of the number of people being treated for HIV/AIDS trebling over the past l0 years and predicted to reach l00 000 by 20l2. The committee described the attempts to stem the rise of HIV as 'woefully inadequate' and said that better testing should be more readily available and transparent, as increasing pressure is being put on the health service through treatment. Management of HIV/AIDS cost the NHS 760million [pounds sterling] in the period 2009 to 2010 alone. A Department of Health (DH) spokesperson commented: 'There is still no cure, and prevention and safe sex are still as vital as 25 years ago. We need to reduce undiagnosed HIV, so testing in a variety of healthcare settings is important especially in high prevalence areas.' The Terrence Higgins Trust believes that halving the number of undiagnosed HIV cases, along with increasing the number of those taking treatment should be the aim. The charity's chief executive Paul Ward said: 'By renewing our approach to HIV prevention in the UK, by properly involving communities, businesses, charities, individuals and the state, we can turn this epidemic around.' Lord Fowler, the chair of the committee who also spearheaded the 1980s 'Don't Die of Ignorance' campaign, said: 'In the last 25 years the development of new drugs has dramatically reduced the death toll, but that should not encourage a false sense of security.' The DH spokesperson added: 'The department continues to fund the Terrence Higgins Trust and the African Health Policy Network prevention programmes. This is in tandem with targeted local NHS programmes.' The House of Lords committee also urged the government to make sex and relationship education (SRE) compulsory in school, but it also acknowledged that this option appeared to be unlikely to be implemented. Unite/CPHVA professional officer Ros Godson agreed that this would be an important step: 'We also strongly support the recommendation that as many young people as possible can access good quality SRE education, and that the biological and social aspects of HIV and AIDS should be integrated into it.' She noted: 'Qualified school nurses are ideally placed to help teachers to deliver this.' Lord Fowler warned: 'Prevention must be the key policy. Protect yourself. Use a condom.' |
| Gale Copyright: | Copyright 2011 Gale, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. |
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