A new free benefit is being introduced to primary healthcare
The regulation of the Minister of Health, which provides for the performance of HIV tests in primary care clinics, came into force on May 5. Vice-president of the Zielona Góra Agreement Tomasz Zieliński told PAP that clinics need several days to sign annexes to contracts with laboratories that will include the performance of tests.
- In primary care clinics , screening tests for HIV of the fourth generation will be performed. They allow for earlier detection of HIV infection than third generation tests - the serological window is about seven days shorter.
Currently, free HIV tests are available anonymously at consultation and diagnostic points (PKD).
The Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Tariff System (AOTMiT) has noted that the number of new infections in Poland has increased significantly in the last three years. In the first 10 months of 2024, almost 2,000 new cases were recorded, most of them in the advanced stage of the disease.
According to data from the National Health Fund, the number of new HIV diagnoses has been systematically increasing in the years 2012-2021. In 2021, it was 16.9 thousand people, which is 84% more than in 2012.
The costs of introducing anti-HIV screening testing with a fourth-generation screening test as a guaranteed service were estimated at PLN 1.5 million per year.
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
The virus multiplies in the cells of the immune system, then destroys them, which leads to a gradual impairment of cellular immunity. The consequence is acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, which is characterized by the occurrence of many opportunistic infections and cancers. AIDS is not an independent disease entity. It is the final stage of HIV infection and usually occurs after many years of infection.
Thanks to medical advances, if a person living with HIV takes antiretroviral drugs regularly and has an undetectable viremia (a condition defined as the presence of viruses in the blood that can replicate) for six months, they are not infectious to sexual partners according to the "n=n" rule, i.e. "undetectable = non-infectious"
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