CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Hoping to reduce barriers to HIV antibody testing and increase the number of state residents who are screened for HIV infection, the Washington State Board of Health has revised its HIV counseling and notification rules, TheSeattle Times reports. The new rules eliminate the mandatory minimum level of counseling physicians and other health care providers must give to those seeking HIV antibody tests, instead allowing the counseling to be tailored to each person's HIV risk history. The new rules also move from doctors to local health agencies the responsibility of notifying the sexual partners of newly infected people.
Physicians in the state have said the old counseling and notification requirements took up too much of their time and made offering HIV antibody tests to their patients too burdensome.
"Our goal is to dramatically increase testing and make it more routine," Tom Locke, chairman of the health board, told the Times. "To do that we needed to drastically revise the rules."
Washington has recorded more than 15,000 HIV cases since 1982. Health officials estimate that there are currently 2,000 state residents who are HIV-positive yet unaware of their infections because they have not taken HIV antibody tests.
Want more breaking equality news & trending entertainment stories?
Check out our NEW 24/7 streaming service: the Advocate Channel!
Download the Advocate Channel App for your mobile phone and your favorite streaming device!
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Meet all 37 of the queer women in this season's WNBA
April 17 2024 11:24 AM
Here are the 15 gayest travel destinations in the world: report
March 26 2024 9:23 AM
21+ steamy photos of Scotland’s finest gay men in Elska Glasgow
February 01 2024 10:07 PM
More Than 50 of Our Favorite LGBTQ+ Moms
May 12 2024 11:44 AM
Conjoined twins Lori Schappell and trans man George Schappell dead at 62
April 27 2024 6:13 PM
Latest Stories
Nancy Pelosi endorses Kamala Harris for president
July 22 2024 4:07 PM
Charli XCX declares Kamala Harris IS brat & our next President's campaign agrees
July 22 2024 3:08 PM
Pete Buttigieg roasts JD Vance and his gay tech bro billionaire
July 22 2024 1:42 PM
The AIDs pandemic can be ended by 2030, but governments must act: report
July 22 2024 1:01 PM
Conservatives' first attack on Kamala Harris: Pronouns and accessibility?
July 22 2024 12:45 PM
Advancing equality during Disability Pride Month
July 22 2024 11:30 AM