HIV Testing without treatment (29)
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I was very interested to read of the survey of people with HIV and
the reasons they gave for finding testing beneficial. I did a longi-
tudinal, qualitative study of HIV+ people and their coping strategies
in Zimbabwe which was published under the title "A world of silence".
The people in that study were almost all diagnosed via a public hos-
pital because they were symptomatic. They received pre-test counsel-
ling which included the option not to have the test. Nevertheless,
only one person had himself taken the initiative to be tested because
he wanted to know. All others agreed to the test at the suggestion of
their doctor, and in Zimbabwe doctors carry great authority (as they
probably do in Tanzania). Sometimes I wondered whether people would
have agreed to the test, or sought it, if they were not keen to be
treated for bothersome symptoms and felt they needed to agree with
the doctor's suggestions.
My question to Bridget is, do you have information on the circum-
stances under which the people in your study were diagnosed - where,
for what reason, at whose initiative, and did it include good quality
pre-and post-test counselling? I would be interested to know to what
extent (and how) this influences people's experience of knowing their
HIV status.
Karla Meursing
International Health Unit
Macfarlane Burnet Centre for Medical Research
PO Box 254 Fairfield, Yarra Bend Road
Fairfield, Victoria 3078, Australia
Tel: +61-3-9282-2199
Fax: +61-3-9482-3123
mailto:karla@burnet.edu.au
http://www.burnet.edu.au/Internet/ihu/
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