No-cost HIV testing “should continue to be available and easily accessible” in Bergen County, New Jersey, a NorthJersey.com editorial says, adding, “Anyone who is worried about whether he or she has been infected with [HIV] should be able to learn the truth as soon as possible and as discretely as possible. The uninsured, in particular, should have access to free testing.”

According to the editorial, the Bergen County Department of Health Services is considering plans to close the only no-cost testing clinic in the county, which administers about five HIV tests daily, according to health officials. The editorial adds that county officials say that no-cost testing will continue to be available either in a clinic in Hackensack, the Bergen County homeless shelter or through another program. “While the county must understandably grapple with budget constraints, it is important to continue to have a source” of no-cost HIV testing in the county, the editorial says, adding that it questions “whether the county’s new homeless shelter is an advisable location.” With no central location for no-cost testing, it is likely that “some people may not be tested until they are much sicker,” increasing the cost of treating patients and hindering prevention efforts, according to the editorial.

The editorial notes that New Jersey ranks fifth in the country for the number of AIDS cases, according to CDC, and has the highest rate of new HIV cases among women nationwide. “More than half of the estimated 66,000 people in this state who” are HIV-positive are injection drug users or “their partners or children,” the editorial says. It continues that “clearly,” the no-cost testing clinic in Bergen County “provides a needed service.” HIV/AIDS is an “insidious disease” that “rarely makes headlines anymore, though it continues to affect many people and cause much suffering and anxiety,” the editorial says, concluding, “Those who live with it have learned the hard way the essential importance of education, prevention and early testing. Bergen County must continue to offer those resources as easily and effectively as possible” (NorthJersey.com, 5/5).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Recent figures from UNICEF indicate that Britain recorded 7,734 new HIV cases in 2007 — almost twice the number of cases recorded around 2000 — London’s Metro reports. According to the report, Britain has double the number of recorded HIV cases than any other Western European country. Metro reports that the country now has a record number of 77,000 HIV-positive people and that more than one-quarter of people living with the virus are unaware of their status. The highest numbers of new cases in 2007 were recorded among men who have sex with men and immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa, according to UNICEF. The group’s United Kingdom executive director, Anita Tiessen, said that the increase in cases is not “simply a case of people coming here with HIV — there’s a behavior issue.”

One in 10 new HIV cases in 2007 was recorded among young people ages 16 to 24, and this group also accounted for nearly half of the 40,000 new sexually transmitted infection cases recorded that year. More than four in 10 new HIV cases were recorded among MSM, and Metro reports that cases recorded among this group continue to increase. Tiessen said that Britain’s “sizeable” immigrant population from sub-Saharan African might be contributing to the country HIV/AIDS figures; however, she added that sexual behavior among young people also is a key factor and urged government officials to lead “youth-friendly” prevention campaigns. The Department of Health said it will continue funding for organizations such as the Terrance Higgins Trust and the African HIV Policy Network, which target at-risk groups such as MSM and immigrants (Attewill, Metro, 5/7).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.