The following request was received by the [him] moderator. You can your comments and opinions on 'almost-mandatory' testing to Bill or send them in for posting on [him]. The UNAIDS regional team, both Asian regions of WHO, and UNICEF are said to be arranging a regional consultation in Phnom Penh last week of April.

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I have been asked by UNAIDS to write an Issues Paper/Literature
Review on the impact of the current HIV Testing and Counselling
policy and practice in countries in Asia and the Pacific. It focuses
especially on the experience of MSM, sex workers and their clients,
injecting drug users - the most at risk populations in the region.
But it also will extend to include PLWHA, women, children and
adolescents.

The paper will inform a regional consultation on the proposal from
WHO and UNAIDS to develop a new HIV Testing and Counselling policy
and guidelines. These propose a significant role for Provider
Initiated Testing and Counselling [PITC].

Under PITC the Health Care Worker has a stronger role in recommending
or telling the patient that they should be tested for HIV. The
circumstances in which this would occur vary and are affected by a
range of factors, including an assessment of local epidemiological
and social contexts.

PITC represents a significant change in HIV Testing and Counselling
policy from the previous emphasis on Voluntary Counselling and
Testing.

I need information about the experiences of members of the above
groups with the current HIV Testing and Counselling policy and
practice. This can centre upon their knowledge, experiences and
attitudes about testing and counselling. But it can also include
their issues regarding the health system in general, and broader
issues of stigma, discrimination, health and information seeking etc -
all the factors that might affect how these people see and use HIV
testing and counselling.

Hopefully my paper can cover a broad and diverse range of issues that
people from these populations currently experience regarding HIV
testing and counselling - the benefits and the weaknesses. This can
be used to help develop suitable testing and counselling policies and
guidelines for the region and at national level.

I need to collect a range of material - peer-reviewed and non-peer
reviewed papers, project reports, conference and meeting
presentations, and personal testimonies.

So I am asking for your help. Please send me things that you think
would help me - papers, articles, reports, and documents. Or tell me
the name and contact details of people that are doing work that you
think I should know about.

I can be contacted at billol@bigpond.net.au

Thank you for your help

Bill O'Loughlin
E-MAIL: <billol@bigpond.net.au>

A copy of the proposed WHO/UNAIDS draft policy and guidelines can be
found at: http://www.who.int/hiv/topics/vct/publicreview/en/