Van Rooyen Heidi Eve, Strode Ann E, Slack Catherine M
Human and Social Development Programme, Human Sciences Research Council, Durban, South Africa.
S Afr Med J. 2016 Mar 30;106(5):37-9. doi: 10.7196/SAMJ.2016.v106i5.10484.
Antiretroviral treatment coverage for children and adolescents is significantly lower than that for adults. A first step in improving this situation is ensuring increased access to HIV counselling and testing services. Current legal and policy frameworks outline four norms that should inform HIV testing of children in South Africa: limiting HIV testing to defined circumstances, and ensuring that consent is obtained, counselling is provided and confidentiality is maintained. Implementing these norms is not simple. We discuss the challenges and opportunities these norms present for children, their families, health providers and researchers working in this area. Better alignment between evolving public health approaches and the HIV counselling and testing legal/policy frameworks (and the internal coherence of domestic frameworks) would better serve children, their parents and those who work with them.
儿童和青少年的抗逆转录病毒治疗覆盖率显著低于成人。改善这种情况的第一步是确保增加获得艾滋病毒咨询和检测服务的机会。当前的法律和政策框架概述了四项规范,这些规范应指导南非儿童的艾滋病毒检测:将艾滋病毒检测限制在特定情况下,并确保获得同意、提供咨询和保持保密。实施这些规范并非易事。我们讨论了这些规范给该领域的儿童、其家庭、医疗服务提供者和研究人员带来的挑战和机遇。不断发展的公共卫生方法与艾滋病毒咨询和检测法律/政策框架(以及国内框架的内部一致性)之间更好地保持一致,将更好地服务于儿童、他们的父母以及与他们一起工作的人。