Quick tests for AIDS are almost eight times more expensive

The quick tests for AIDS are 7-8 times more expensive than the ordinary ones based on blood samples, the director of the AIDS Center Stefan Gheorghita said in the last meeting this year of the governmental commission for gender equality, in reaction to assertions made by Victor Lutenko, adviser to Prime Minister Vlad Filat on social policy, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The quick tests based on saliva samples started to be widely performed only now as the AIDS Center was against them. I think the figure of 7,000 tests done so far is very low. The people from rural areas have to travel at least twice to the district center to have a test and this is difficult for them,” Victor Lutenko said in the meeting. The adviser to the Premier also said that the lack of confidentiality is the most serious problem related to the tests for AIDS. “Several doctors are informed about the test results and thus the people give up doing the tests. If it turns out that a person is infected, the life of that person is practically over,” he stated. Stefan Gheorghita said the quick tests have been used the previous years as well, but they are too costly for Moldova’s budget. He also said that 60% of the 1 664 persons receiving antiretroviral treatment are men, while 40% are women. “It is not discrimination. Simply men become infected with HIV more often than women,” he stated. The latest national studies show that the number of HIV infection cases among women almost doubled – from 21.8% of the total cases in 1996 to 43.9% in 2009. The lack of contraception and the unprotected sex are the main risk factors leading to HIV infection.