June 27, 2010

This National HIV Testing Day, the women of the U.S. Positive Women’s Network pause to reflect and recommit to ensuring women throughout the U.S. have equitable and compassionate access to HIV testing that upholds our human rights.

We believe HIV testing should be fully accessible, voluntary, informed, and free from coercion and shame.

We believe that every sexually active person should be offered an HIV test, regardless of whether she fits a “risk behavior” profile.

We believe nobody should have to justify asking for an HIV test.

We believe HIV testing should be accompanied by counseling – to keep negatives negative, and to provide support, information and resources for those who test positive.

We believe that making an HIV test desirable requires: 1) changing societal norms and attitudes to destigmatize people living with and at risk for HIV 2) removing laws and policies that criminalize HIV exposure and transmission; and 3) ensuring that every person testing positive has immediate access to care and supportive services, including anti-retroviral treatment if appropriate and desired.

We believe resource targeting should take into account structural drivers of the epidemic – including but not limited to the effects of homophobia, gender inequity, racism, sexism, community viral load, poverty, housing insecurity, food insecurity, access to health care, and laws and policies that criminalize sex workers and drug users.

We believe every person testing positive in the United States should be: 1) informed about her rights 2) linked to voluntary care upon diagnosis 3) offered a referral to mental health or psychosocial support services, including peer support programs 4) screened for and provided referrals to remedy housing instability, intimate partner violence, and harm-reduction-oriented substance use programs if desired.

We believe in taking responsibility for our health and the health or four communities — and we believe that responsibility requires taking action to ensure a safe and compassionate world for all who test positive for HIV.