Health News

An HIV testing campaign launched in Lesotho in 2005 has failed to meet its goals because of a lack of funding and administrative issues, according to a report released on Tuesday by Human Rights Watch and the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. The campaign aimed to test 1.3 million people over age 12, but as of August 2007, about 25,000 people had been tested for HIV. Training counselors and expanding support services for people living with HIV/AIDS also were part of the campaign's goals, but inadequate funding and administrative failures deterred progress in both areas, the report said (AFP/Yahoo! News, 11/18).

Although the groups noted that Lesotho was one of the first nations to implement a mass testing campaign, the report also found that the campaign did not take adequate steps to ensure confidentiality and other rights (Georgy, Reuters South Africa, 11/18). According to the report, Lesotho's testing program did not ensure that people undergoing HIV tests gave informed consent…