HIV Testing Of Newborns Research Articles

Band-aid for a gaping wound: can mandatory HIV-testing of newborns improve the success of PMTCT?

abstract Recent studies have shown that uptake of Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) services in public sector antenatal settings in South Africa is low, with only half of all pregnant women consenting to HIV test. Out of those who do test, it is estimated that only 30 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women actually receive antiretroviral treatment to prevent HIV transmission during labour. Against this backdrop, arguments are currently being made in favour of radical interventions to reduce vertical transmission. This briefing looks at the proposed policy of mandatory HIV-testing of newborns and presents the case against such an approach, in the interests of women and their babies.

Mandatory HIV testing of newborns in New York State: what are the implications?

This paper presents an analysis of a public health law (Maternal-Pediatric HIV Prevention and Care Program) enacted by New York State in 1997 and how it strives to reduce the vertical transmission of AIDS. This policy is twofold. First, it strongly encourages voluntary HIV testing of all pregnant women. Secondly, it mandates HIV testing for all newborns. Those found to be positive are referred for medical care. This paper analyzes the State's implementation of this law to determine if it will: exert control over poor, mostly minority women; provide health care for infected woman and infants; protect public health; prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS; or sacrifice a woman's privacy. The potential benefits and shortfalls of this policy are discussed as other states may consider adopting similar legislation.

Mandatory HIV Testing of Newborns: The Impact on Women

Mandatory HIV Testing of Newborns: The Impact on Women

Mandatory HIV Testing of Newborns

How well does compulsory neonatal testing prevent HIV transmission, and does it impinge on women's rights?

It's for (y)our own good: an analysis of the discourses surrounding mandatory, unblinded HIV testing of newborns.

Let us examine the question of priorities. I believe that, by any standard you wish to use, our first national priority in public health is to protect and improve the health status of all pregnant women, nursing mothers, and infants through their first year of life. (Koop, 1990, p. 14) The focus on the fetus constructs an adversarial relationship between pregnant women and their fetuses that extends implicitly to all mothers and children, but especially to those who are poor. The sinister idea of mothers who "kill their children" becomes a salient part of the background noise accompanying policies that discredit women's right to make claims on behalf of their children and social programs that benefit poor mothers and children. Saving fetuses from their mothers distracts conveniently from society's failure to feed, house, educate, employ, and provide health care to millions of children, much less solve the problems of AIDS, drugs, and environmental devastation. (Petchesky, 1990, p. xiii)

Mandatory HIV Testing of Newborns: The Debate and a Programmatic Response

The U.S. Congress is considering legislation—H.R. 1872—that would require mandatory HIV testing of all newborns except those whose mothers were tested during pregnancy. This article presents a detailed analysis of the complex issues involved in the proposed legislation. It also describes the authors' programmatic response that incorporates feminist and social work values, given the likely passage of the bill. This response includes the anticipated social service needs (education and supportive counseling) of mothers whose HIV status is revealed through tests of newborns.

HIV serosurveillance of newborns: A clinician's perspective on legislative, political, and ethical issues

This article reviews the complex issues surrounding the anonymous HIV testing of newborns to monitor the prevalence of HIV infection in women of childbearing age. This serosurveillance of newborns has become a topic of legislative debate focusing on disclosure of currently anonymous results of HIV antibody tests of newborns, thus revealing the serostatus of the mother. This, in effect, would mandatorily test women without their consent. The discussion includes the following topics: (a) the historical demographics of incidence rates of AIDS, (b) current political and legislative issues raised by serosurveillance, (c) professional and ethical issues confronting health care providers, and (d) why HIV testing of newborns is a mandatory testing of all women of childbearing age. It is recommended that principles of patients right of self-determination be respected, that mandatory testing would be counterproductive and would disproportionately impact on minorities. The integration of education, counseling, and voluntary testing will result in the most effective way to get both women and children into the health care system.

AIDS: human rights and responsibilities.

As epidemiology changes and new therapies emerge, the focus of disease control is shifting from the voluntary to the mandatory. This is reflected in debates about routine HIV testing of newborns and the confidentiality of HIV-infected adults. Other issues include access to unproven drugs, the problems posed by co-infection with TB, and prevention through needle and condom distribution.