AEGiS-APPJ: Mandatory HIV Testing of Immigration Applicants: New York State Responds with an Educational Program for INS Civil Surgeons

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1991. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Mandatory HIV Testing of Immigration Applicants: New York State Responds with an Educational Program for INS Civil Surgeons

AIDS & Public Policy Journal 6, no. 2 (Summer 1991): 64-68
Mark Barnes et al.

"In a new program initiative, the AIDS Institute of the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) surveyed these civil surgeons to determine HIV counseling and testing practices in their offices and provided the civil surgeons with education on HIV counseling, testing, and treatment. More than one-fourth of the providers failed to offer pretest counseling. Nearly one-third offered no post-test counseling; more than 20 percent offered post-test counseling only to those testing HIV positive, as prescribed in INS guidelines but in direct contravention of New York State law. In counseling these immigration applicants, civil surgeons often overcame language barriers at the expense of the patient's privacy and confidentiality using a family member or friend for translation. Although there has been much debate about the public health value of the mandatory HIV testing of immigrant applicants, this requirement will likely continue for the foreseeable future. Systemic difficulties in this mandatory HIV-testing program suggest problems and opportunities in this and other mandatory HIV-testing programs.
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APPJ916202

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