HIV+ names to be recorded

Posted by Bethina Abrahams Jan 24, 2007

Massachusetts was one of the few states which did not record the names of HIV+ individuals. Instead they used a coding system to track the disease and protect the privacy of HIV+ people. However, that changed when the federal government passed the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act on Dec. 18, 2006 which stated that individual states must track early stages of HIV-infection in addition to cases of full-blown AIDS. The Massachusetts Public Health Council voted unanimously to comply with the regulation in order to avoid losing $33 million in funding. The biggest concern is the protection of confidentiality of HIV+ people. However, the Department of Public Health assures that proper measures will be in place to protect individuals' privacy including limiting access of the information to only ten people.