Do
you have any information or guidelines for
doctors on pre test discussion and post test
counselling in the light of the government’s
new strategy?
The
National Strategy for Sexual Health and HIV
for England sets targets for increasing
the offer and uptake of HIV testing and for
reducing the number of people living with
undiagnosed HIV infection. The strategy promotes
HIV testing in primary care as well as in
genito urinary medicine (GUM) clinics and
highlights the existing national antenatal
HIV screening programme.
Guidelines on pre-test discussion were issued
by the Department of Health in March 1996
and can be downloaded from the Department’s
website. A brief list of the main features
of post-test counselling are also contained
in this document, but it is important that
professionals undertaking post-test counselling
are adequately trained.
Do
you have any information on the incidence
of HIV and AIDS in my area?
You
can find lots of useful statistics about the
incidence and prevalence of HIV and AIDS in
the UK from the Health
Protection Agency. This site also provides
figures for other sexually transmitted infections.
As well as written reports, tables and charts,
you can download sets of slides for presentations.
Where
can I find information on the impact of AIDS
in different countries and rates of HIV infection
around the world?
The
Joint
United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
produces a yearly report on the worldwide
AIDS epidemic, as well as many papers on the
situation in different countries and regions.
Its website also provides news about international
initiatives on AIDS, and a Best Practice Collection
giving information about policies, strategies
and technologies that have been shown to work
in HIV prevention, treatment and care.
I
want to refer a patient to a GUM clinic. How
can I find out about clinics in our part of
the country?
Genito
urinary medicine (GUM) clinics are ‘open
access’. Patients can attend with or
without a referral from another doctor and
can choose which clinic to go to. A list of
all GUM
clinics in the UK and Republic of Ireland
has been produced by the British Association
for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) and can
be downloaded from their website. The directory
gives the contact details and opening times
for each clinic, and can be searched by region.
Are
there any guidelines for treating chlamydia
trachomatis?
The
joint Clinical Effectiveness Group of the
Association for Genito Urinary Medicine (AGUM)
and the Medical Society for the Study of Venereal
Diseases (MSSVD) has produced a wide range
of guidelines for the treatment of different
sexually transmitted infections. These can
be found on the British
Association for Sexual Health and HIV website.
Is
it true there are now treatments available
to reduce the transmission of HIV from mother
to child?
HIV
can be transmitted from mother to child during
pregnancy and birth, and through breastfeeding.
The risk of transmission can be radically
reduced through a combination of drug treatment
and other interventions. Guidelines for the
Management of HIV Infection in Pregnant Women
and the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission
are now available from the British
HIV Association (BHIVA).This link will
also take you to BHIVA’s regularly updated
HIV treatment guidelines - an essential tool
for those prescribing Highly Active Antiretroviral
Therapy for people with HIV.
