Reverting to Ignorance

If you opened The Crimson on December 7, 1996, you would have discovered a news feature about a student trying to find room in his schedule to get to Boston for an HIV test. At that time, Harvard did not offer anonymous HIV testing, so students looking for anonymity while staying in control of their health were sent packing. It’s rare that health care goes backward, but University Health Services’s recent decision to end anonymous testing (instituted in 1996) is one of those times. Effective August 1, only confidential testing will be provided by UHS, meaning that test results will show up on students’ permanent medical records. This change in policy was unnecessary and unjustified and may end up worsening the sexual health of the Harvard community.

One reason given by UHS Director David S. Rosenthal ’59 for the removal of anonymous testing was a lack of use. But this trend suggests a much different course of action than elimination of the program. HIV testing is one of the most effective ways of slowing the spread of the virus and signaling to individuals to get medical help. Since testing is not particularly costly or difficult, instead of getting rid of it, UHS should have attempted to increase the use of this testing in an attempt to actively improve the health of its student body.

Anonymous testing was instituted in 1996 as a result of months of campaigning by campus AIDS activists. They did this because they knew what Rosenthal seems to have forgotten: that a severe stigma existed—and still exists, albeit to a lesser extent—against HIV-positive persons. In a recent interview with The Crimson, Rosenthal argued that HIV/AIDS is no longer enough of a stigma to justify testing, a sentiment that has not been echoed by Harvard’s AIDS activists. The option for all HIV testing to remain off a person’s permanent medical record must remain.

Paging Mr. Rosenthal: 2009 is not that far from 1996. If UHS wants its students to have to search for sites off campus for care, then this is a good first step. The stigma for HIV/AIDS is deeply rooted in our society and abroad, and we shouldn’t decrease students’ willingness to undergo testing, since this is one of the few ways to limit the spread of the disease. Rosenthal noted that in a few years everyone will be getting tested. But not everyone will want it on their record–nor should they have to have it there.