Lambda Legal and Partners Provide Guidance to Recipients of New CDC Funding

(New York, October 4, 2007) — Lambda Legal, AIDS Foundation of Chicago and the Center for HIV Law and Policy are sending a set of 15 HIV testing principles to help guide the 23 state and local public health departments, announced last week, that will receive funding by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to conduct increased HIV testing campaigns.

The principles, which to date have been endorsed by over 70 health, service and advocacy organizations and physicians, are set forth in a document entitled "Expanding the Availability and Acceptance of Voluntary HIV Testing: Fundamental Principles to Guide Implementation."

Last week, CDC awarded $35 million to 23 state and local public health departments for one-year projects to target HIV testing expansion in African-American communities where rates of HIV/AIDS are most acute.  In addition, members of the Congressional Black Caucus joined with the Black AIDS Institute and other civil rights organizations last week in calling for a campaign to provide HIV testing to 1 million African-Americans by December 2008 as part of a mass mobilization campaign.  

"As local public health agencies use new grant monies, it is vitally important that certain principles guide those efforts, to ensure that HIV testing is always informed, voluntary, confidential, and supported by health care," said Bebe Anderson, HIV Project Director at Lambda Legal and one of the primary authors of the Fundamental Principles.  "Otherwise, the worthy goals of increasing early diagnosis and care for those who are living with HIV will suffer."

"The CDC grants for HIV testing expansion have the potential to do an enormous amount of good for people unaware of their HIV infection," according to Frank Oldham, Executive Director of the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA).  "Each grant is an opportunity for local stakeholders to come together to ensure expanded testing services are matched with educational opportunities about the merits of HIV testing acceptance as well as appropriate post-testing services for the newly diagnosed." 

"Black gay men in America have the most to gain from expanded HIV testing campaigns," said Lee Carson, president of the Black Gay Men's Leadership Council of Philadelphia.  "As advocates, we must ensure that black gay leaders in each community funded for testing expansion are actively involved and engaged in testing expansion plans.  We must ensure that each expansion program meets the needs of at-risk gay men and takes the necessary steps to protect our confidentiality and promote our medical decision-making rights.  Only by involving us in the planning of these programs can we be sure they are designed to adequately meet our needs."

"Expanded HIV testing programs for youth at risk can't happen without this kind of funding," said Jeffrey M. Birnbaum, M.D., M.P.H., Director of Family Adolescent and Children's Experience Program (FACES), SUNY Downstate Medical Center (NY) and Health and Education Alternatives for Teens (HEAT), Kings County Hospital, both programs for low-income adolescents with HIV/AIDS. "But it's critical that the programs we create treat HIV testing as a key opportunity to build trust and to engage youth in a relationship with health care providers and a continuum of health and support services," Birnbaum added.

The fifteen guiding principles are intended to serve as a roadmap for efforts to expand the availability and acceptance of HIV screening while maintaining informed written consent, counseling on the meaning and implications of test results, linkage to care, and respect for patients' rights.  The principles are meant to inform those working on expanding HIV testing.  They are based on the ethical and public health concept that everyone — including consumers, community leaders, AIDS service organizations, physicians, nurses, public health officials — has a stake in achieving an expanded testing paradigm in a thoughtful and meaningful way that produces long-term benefits for those living with or at risk of HIV.

 The 15 guiding principles include:

• People living with undiagnosed HIV infection must be reached and offered testing.
  
  
• Any HIV testing program must provide the highest standard of care.
  
  
• Everyone offered testing must be educated about HIV and the significance of positive and negative test results.
  
  
• People who test positive for HIV antibodies must be linked to care.
  
  
• Patients' human rights and informed consent are consistent with, and not opposed to, the goal of expanded HIV testing.
  
  
• Expanded HIV testing must be tailored to different clinical settings, populations, and patient needs.
  
  
• Clinicians, medical directors and other providers must receive training and education in making appropriate service referrals and linkages to care.
  
  
• Special attention must be paid to the prevention and care needs of at-risk populations.

The grant awards announced by CDC on September 27, 2007, will fund one-year projects in 17 states (California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia) and 6 cities (Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York City, and Washington, DC). Eligibility and funding amounts were based upon the percentage of AIDS cases among African Americans in each jurisdiction.

For the full Fundamental Principles document, please visit www.lambdalegal.org; www.aidschicago.org; or www.hivlawandpolicy.org. Groups and individuals can read and endorse the Principles by visiting www.hivtestingprinciples.org.

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Contact: Lisa Hardaway 212-809-8585 ext: 266; Email: lhardaway@lambdalegal.org

Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.