Eric Whitaker,
director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, on
Tuesday announced that Illinois will begin in January
tracking cases of HIV by name rather than alphanumeric
code in response to mounting federal pressure to bring
its HIV surveillance system in line with those
operating in most other states, the AIDS Foundation of
Chicago reports.
"The federal
government has made the decision rather simple: Switch
to name-based reporting or lose millions of dollars for
essential HIV care, prevention, and housing programs,"
said Mark Ishaug, AFC executive director. "IDPH is
facing this new challenge responsibly by bringing
together stakeholders to ensure that every effort is made to
protect client confidentiality and promote acceptance of HIV
testing and care services."
AFC will serve on
a task force convened by IDPH to review internal
systems and assist the state in developing and communicating
how HIV surveillance will operate in the future.
The Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention is pressuring all states
to adopt names-based HIV reporting, which it considers a
more accurate and consistent collection method than
codes-based systems. The CDC has refused to integrate
data from 13 states using codes-based reporting into
its national HIV projections. At least 10 of the 13 regions
without names-based reporting, including the states of
California, Massachusetts, and Washington and the city
of Philadelphia, are in the process of switching to
names-based reporting systems. (Advocate.com)