Zimbabwe shifts focus of HIV testing

Zimbabwe has announced a shift from voluntary testing for HIV to provider-initiated testing that sees medical service providers offering the HIV test to patients.

The decision means that all people making routine hospital visits will be given the option of also having a test for the disease, though the government's statement added that the testing was not mandatory.

And Dr Owen Mugurungi, Head of the AIDS and TB Unit in the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, stressed that the importance of human rights meant mandatory testing would never be introduced.

Explaining the new policy, Dr Mugurungi said: "We took that decision because we understood that there were missed opportunities for people to get tested.

"It also helps both the service provider and the infected person to plan effectively on either living positively or maintaining a negative status," he added.

World Health Organization figures released in 2003 estimated that between 21.7 and 27.8 per cent of Zimbabwe's adult population were infected with HIV/AIDS, with a total of between 1.5 and two million people in the country living with the disease.

News brought to you by Global Health TV, covering the issues of Health in the Developing world