HIV testing without treatment? (11)
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Counselling and testing facilities are a critical components of the
response against HIV. In many sub-Saharan countries a quarter of the
adult population has HIV. The remaining 75% do not have. Encouraging
people to be tested could help these 75% to know that the do not have
HIV and maybe motivate them to remain that way.
It is difficult though to encourage people to be tested when the
other side of the equation is bleak. Apart from rhetorics on positive
living, which in any case people are already practicing, there are no
tangible benefits of knowing that one is sero-positive. HAART aside,
just the mere presence of anti TB prophylaxis could motivate people
to know their status. At least TB prophylaxis would be an option for
HIV positive people.
"Don't test if you can't treat" are the words of an HIV positive Zam-
bian lady during the plenary in the Vancouver World AIDS Conference
in 1996. These encapsulate the core ethic of HIV testing in sub-
Saharan Africa.
David Chipanta
mailto:chipanta@mailcity.com
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