‘Opt-out HIV tests will help end stigma around the disease’
ADDRESS PATIENT ANXIETY TO REMOVE CULTURAL BARRIERS, SAYS EXPERT
CAMPAIGNERS have welcomed a report recommending an opt-out scheme for HIV testing, in the hope that it will reach under-represented groups in the UK.
Published last Wednesday (21), the report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on HIV/AIDs said opt-out testing should be adopted across healthcare settings, including when patients register for a GP or when the NHS takes blood samples.
The move comes as the latest statistics show BAME communities are disproportionally impacted by HIV in the UK.
Forty-four per cent of the 4,139 new diagnoses in 2019 were among ethnic minorities. In the same year, four per cent of people receiving HIV care were of south Asian ethnicity.
Experts believe that introducing an opt-out scheme will ensure testing is more accessible and will stop late diagnosis.
Parminder Sekhon is the chief executive officer of NAZ, a sexual health agency working to address sexual health inequalities in ethnic minority communities.
She said the opt-out system was “definitely the way forward to eradicate stigma and for us to stop thinking of it as a stand-alone infection that has all the connotations of stigma and taboo around it”.
She told Eastern Eye last Wednesday, “It signals to people that this is a health condition that needs to be tested for.
“Early detection means you can have access to life-saving treatment and live a normal life.”
Sekhon said the pilot opt-out scheme had already proved successful.
“It normalises HIV testing as part of routine blood tests,” she said.
The government is currently working on an HIV action plan – which has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic – that aims to eliminate the disease’s transmission in England in the next decade.
Sekhon said she hoped ministers would take note of the APPG’s key recommendations and implement them in full.
However, the charity boss noted that offering a test alone would not end the HIV epidemic. It was “vital” to understand the structural barriers that make engagement harder for BAME communities, she said.
The report recommended more tailored and targeted HIV interventions to reach out to under-represented groups.
“We hope the government seizes this vital moment to reach those who need our support the most by increasing access to HIV testing and understanding what motivates testing anxiety,” she said.
For instance, Sekhon believes informed discussions by medical professionals could help if an individual declined an HIV test.
“What’s happening is that no one is having a secondary conversation around what’s making this individual say no (to the HIV test) and why they are feeling anxious,” she said.
“What I propose is having medical and health literacy, making informed choices and having the space and time to talk to individuals about what some of their reservations are.”
Other recommendations in the report include all clinicians and frontline staff receiving regular training so they were confident in having discussions about HIV; access to at-home HIV testing services across the UK, with a particular focus on rural areas; and digital infrastructure to be scaled up for people on low incomes, creating easier access to HIV testing and the wider healthcare system.
In 2019, 105,200 people were estimated to be living with HIV in the UK. Of these, 6,600 (six per cent) are thought to be undiagnosed.
If you have concerns or require more information relating to HIV, see www.naz.org.uk