Planned Parenthood writes that HIV causes AIDS. HIV stands for the human immunodeficiency virus. This virus breaks down the immune system and therefore causes people to become sick with infections that normally wouldn't affect them. AIDS is short for acquired immune deficiency syndrome, which is is the most advanced stage of HIV disease. In the United States, greater than 980,000 cases of AIDS have been reported to the government, and about 40,000 women and men in the United States get HIV each year. In a news release on April 3, 2013, McGill University has reported, HIV Self-testing: the key to controlling the global epidemic.
It has been confirmed by a new international study that self-testing for HIV is effective and could be the answer to controlling the global epidemic. This major systematic review was led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC). This study showed that self-testing removes much of the fear and stigma which is associated with being tested for the disease. This research, which has been published in PLoS Medicine, is seen as the first of its kind and may pave the way for early detection and treatment around the world, thereby reducing transmission of HIV.
Dr. Nitika Pant Pai has said, “Thirty years into the HIV epidemic, there is no vaccine in sight. Treatment as a prevention strategy has been known to work, but uptake of HIV screening seems to be limited by a societal problem: HIV stigma and perceived discrimination.” About 50 percent of people living with HIV worldwide are not aware of their HIV status and about 2.5 million people become infected every year, according to UNAIDS. Dr. Pant Pai has said he firmly believes that access to an HIV self-test which is linked to expedited counselling systems will help to expand access to screening and reduce judgement and perceived attitudes which exist around testing for HIV.
