Medical Ethics and the Rights of People with HIV Under Assault
Medical Ethics and the Rights of People With HIV Under Assault
“The approach to prevention and treatment of HIV in the U.S. has undergone a radical and dangerous shift over the past few months.
“The new concept, called ‘Test and Treat’ (TNT) or ‘Testing with Linkage to Care’ (TLC) will dramatically increase HIV testing, identify more people with HIV and ‘link’ them to care. Those are worthy objectives.
“The danger is that some policy leaders driving these ideas are more interested in ‘treatment as prevention,’ meaning getting people with HIV on antiretroviral treatment, than they are in providing the best possible health care for them. Because antiretroviral treatment makes one less likely to transmit HIV, they believe treating all people with HIV is a good prevention strategy.
“Neither the state of the science or government guidelines support antiretroviral treatment for every person with HIV, but advocates, public health officials and pharmaceutical companies are promoting the idea.”
“The approach to prevention and treatment of HIV in the U.S. has undergone a radical and dangerous shift over the past few months.
“The new concept, called ‘Test and Treat’ (TNT) or ‘Testing with Linkage to Care’ (TLC) will dramatically increase HIV testing, identify more people with HIV and ‘link’ them to care. Those are worthy objectives.
“The danger is that some policy leaders driving these ideas are more interested in ‘treatment as prevention,’ meaning getting people with HIV on antiretroviral treatment, than they are in providing the best possible health care for them. Because antiretroviral treatment makes one less likely to transmit HIV, they believe treating all people with HIV is a good prevention strategy.
“Neither the state of the science or government guidelines support antiretroviral treatment for every person with HIV, but advocates, public health officials and pharmaceutical companies are promoting the idea.”
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