Blog #9: Testing and Confidentiality

Blog #9: Testing and Confidentiality
When I went to get my HIV test done there were alot of thoughts going through my mind before I went into the private testing center. Things like; what if someone I know sees me? Am I going to have to pay for it? How long with it take? Will people know if I went to get tested? All these questions and more were answered by the time I left. There was no cost for the test, my test results were confedintial, it only took about 20mins, and there shouldn't be a reason to be ashammed to get tested. I just summed this experience up but I am sure the things I were thinking before the test were similar to most people. I try to slip my experience into casual conversation with my firends so they can see how easy getting an HIV test really is and how important getting is. Any fears I had before I went to get tested were quickly erased after this experience.

DYK: Private Education Concerning HIV
After searching for HIV policies in private schools I didn't have much luck. I did find that private schools must adhere to the National and Local guidelines for education, which includes HIV. As I showed you before in my Blog #4 each state has their own policy regarding HIV(ussually abstience is the message). As long as the private schools stick to this policy then they are following regualtions. Being that most private schools are tied to religion, I dont feel they will stray from the abstience message. In many states however they are required to teach about contraception. This is probably not the case in private schools that are religous but I dont think anyone has challened them to change on this matter.

Blog #8: HIV Confidentiality in P.R.

This was supposed to posted on Blog #6 but with the lack of blog topics it completely slipped through my radar. Well it has been said that its always better late then never so here it is.

Blog #8 Confidentiality in Puerto Rico
After searching for an HIV confedentiality policy in P.R. I came a case where an indviduals confedinitality was broken. In the case of "Diaz, Reyes v. United States the court held that Puerto Rico law does not require the physician to inform the members of a patients family of the patient's AIDS diaganosis, even when one of the family members is the patient's wife," (AIDS and the Law 2004). Also, that under a established P.R. statue the medical care provider can not release any information unless consented by the paitent. This means that if someone tests positive or negitive for HIV/AIDS then it is kept bewteen that individual and the tester.

This is such a touchy subject becuase one hand you want to keep persons infected with HIV protected by confedintiality. On the other hand you have persons that will use that confedentiality to their advantage and decieve others, possibly infect them (Which is what happens more often than I can stomach). So this is where the politics of HIV come in to place. What policies should be adopted and at what cost?

http://books.google.com/books?id=0xVd7n95pHoC&pg=PA73&lpg=PA73&dq=puerto+rico+hiv+confidentiality&source=bl&ots=BT24eN7nT6&sig=SGPX0pT5ddjuYlKiUgDy9kS1TUI&hl=en&ei=KoffSrTjOY2b8AaM5Nxq&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CCkQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=puerto%20rico%20hiv%20confidentiality&f=false

DYK: Fl Health Education
I am starting to loose faith in our educational system in regards to HIV and STD's. Everywhere I look it seems that our nation is relying on the absitence message for prevention. This was implemented during the Reagan Administration and wasn't successful then and it continues to be unsuccessful. In our home state of Florida I found the statue concerning Health Education: Instruction on AIDS. The very first sentence irratated me, "Each district school board may provide instruction in acquired immune deficiency syndrome education as a specific area of health education..." I placed may in bold face letters because may defines this as not a requirement. Therefore schools could elect to not teach about AIDS at all. It continues to say if a school should teach about AIDS then the message should be abstience. I put the link below and its just a continuing disappointment but I will continue to search for a school that has a better message to send in regard of HIV education in school. I believe next week I will look into private schools (not one affiliated with religion however).

Florida State Statute 1003.428 2(a)(6) General requirements for high school graduation; revised. One credit in physical education to include integration of health.
http://www.fldoe.org/BII/CSHP/Education/HIV_STD/policies.asp

Blog #6: ABC Policy

Blog#6: ABC Policy
I recently watched the "Age of AIDS" documentry created by Frontline. This documentry shows the political, ecomnoic, and medical struggles created by AIDS. I of the policies I took notice of during the documentry was the ABC policy. The ABC stands for "Abstinence, Be Faithfull, and Condom Use." This policy was set in place by the Ugandan President Museveni during the outbreak of AIDS in his country. This policy gets straight to the point on the three best techniques of prevnting AIDS, known today. Museveni stated that one should be abstinent, if you have sex then be faithfull, if can not do these two then finally use a condom Frontline 2006). Hearing these words come from the Presidents mouth made a huge impact on how the message was recieved. It took away from the ebarrasment some people associate with when talking about sex education. Also, the president would pass out condoms himself when sending his message of the ABC policy. If this policy helped reduce the transmission of HIV in Uganda then why not try it in the US? Well this is a simple question without a simple answer. With so many political and religious views regarding contraception this policy may never find roots in the US. Its funny how we Americans regard ourselves as well educated (smarter than say a third world counrty to say the least) yet when it comes to sexual education there are a thousand different policies to prevent it.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/aids/view/

DYK: HIV Education in New York
In this article it states that the city of New York requires certian HIV education measure be taken throught grade school. After reading these policies they look to be a very well planned cirriculum to educate our youth about STD's and HIV. However, the cirriculum becomes fualty when the guidlines are not being met. The statistics are startling low on the percentage of schools following up with the cirriculum, using qualified teachers, and facilities able for students use. No matter how well an plan is set in place if the proper actions are not taking place then the goal will not be met. The problem here is that the students are not the ones at fault but are the ones that are suffering do to the lack of emplimenting the HIV education plan in New York.

http://www.thebody.com/content/art50770.html

Blog #5

Blog #5: After reading the many responses to the Question of the Week for week five I began to think how HIV can become very political. What policies can be adopted by national and local governments, schools, and other organizations on HIV positive individuals? I did come across a FL statue that calls for HIV positive individuals to reveal their status to any sexual partners or they could be punished by law (can be incarcerated). Just to see how strongly students reacted with their opinons was aspiring. I hope that that the laws and policies made on this matter are looked at with scrutiny and overall a policy that can be adopted by all, HIV positive or not.

FL Statue can be found here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=YpVlLZ5sRG0C&pg=PA110&lpg=PA110&dq=florida+law+hiv+imprisonment&source=bl&ots=-pmRcBqilO&sig=xr08xPou7iusRQy1_FwPb-WoPVk&hl=en&ei=HL-_SoOGEdHP8QbE5dShAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false


DYK: I found an interesting article from the NY times talking about HIV education reform in a Long Island School. They have noticed that even with the knowledge given to highschool students they continue to put themselves at risk and HIV cases continue to rise. With this reform they aim to help connect students to the severity of activities that lead to HIV.The way this is being emplemented is with the help of the local Red Cross. The Red Cross is training students to become "peer educators" that students will be able to relate to and listen to the message to HIV prevention from a peer. This is a great angle in trying to help educate highschool students. I hope that the Red Cross has extendend this program beyond the areas that are in high risk communities because every high school student could only benefit from hearing this message from a peer.

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/12/nyregion/hiv-infecting-more-in-high-school.html?pagewanted=2