Ethical and public health considerations in HIV counseling and testing: policy implications

HIV counseling and testing is broadly considered a critical component of HIV transmission-prevention and treatment efforts. Given the severity of the AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa, the potential societal benefit of testing is invoked to call for its massive expansion and to justify a shift from voluntary to routine testing. Surprisingly little evidence has demonstrated, however, that such a shift will result in the intended benefits to communities, particularly that of reducing the horizontal transmission of HIV. This analysis addresses and critiques the assumptions underlying a serostatus-based approach to behavior change and discusses the ethical consequences of transferring control of the decision to be tested from the individual to the provider. It concludes with a discussion of the implications for HIV counseling and testing policies and proposes alternatives to routine testing that have the potential to be effective while preserving the right to know one's HIV status.