HIV treatment uptake vs. diagnosis

In a study presented at the 16th AIDS conference in Toronto researchers from London’s City University found that treatment uptake in people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in the UK is equal among the two high risk groups of gay men and Africans. This is pretty good news to people involved in health promotion, as it gives us a better picture where to focus our efforts.

So far, there was great concern that people some people may choose not to take up treatment after being diagnosed positive.
This assumption was based on some previous studies which show that Africans in London have their HIV infection diagnosed later than both white and Carribean patients. This in turn raised the question on what would happen after the diagnosis. It was often assumed, that after diagnosis Africans would not take up treatment, and therefore would be more likely to progress.

Of course, the findings do not negate the fact that there is still a lot to be done in the field of HIV/AIDS: compliance remains a major challenge for the medical community and for health promotion in particular - irrespective of ethnicity.
And, as the study now presented has shown, a focus on getting people to take the test equally remains important.
Image: HIV breakfast, originally uploaded by marstoph.

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