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I think that this type of separation of treatment and testing of AIDS out of the normal medical routine promotes the stigma!

For a contagious disease that can be treated and prevented so easily it is outrageous that the testing is not normal in a medical office where all sorts of tests are made for maladies that are not!

This is a public health issue and should be treated like any other fatal illness - in fact even more routinely as it is contagious and not with kit gloves so, as a result, fewer people are tested!

Ms.Bernstein completely ignored the racial

discrimination that surround the reason for the Bronx testing,

That borders on incompetence,

worst host ever!!!!

plus if manhattan leads in infection , logic dictates that testing should be done here as well. Is this because the rich , middle class and mostly white inhabitants , while infecting others at a greater rate , don't want the embarrisment of being shown up?

A better answer to Arthur's comment than what the guest is saying is that HIV is communicable, whereas the other diseases mentioned are not. It is a matter of public safety.

The caller has a point but the idea of pitting one disease against another is narrow-minded. It's time to say let's get out the information and testing of ALL diseases and health conditions. Also heart disease isn't contracted from someone whereas HIV among other diseases can are communicable and so information availability is urgent.

While testing is a good thing . The AIDS scare is way overblown, the billions of research dollars are not allways mis spent if it leads to scientific advancements. But I, like the caller, am more worried about the REAL killers , Hypertension, diabetes, cancer etc etc that kill far more people far more quickly.

I work in a community health center in the South Bronx, which is clearly an area where HIV is destroying the community. We need to seriously overhaul our policies around HIV testing. Requiring written informed consent and counseling prior to HIV testing is a barrier to patients, physicians, and the health care system. Unless we change our policies, it will remain difficult to reach the goal of having everyone know their HIV status.

There is a lot of wrong information that many educators and teachers teach students that a person can go years without knowing if they have HIV.

If you are tested within three months of infection, your body start making antibodies and you can know right away if you are tested within 3 months of the last either incident of unprotected sex or intravenous drug use. It is not 10 years!!!

It is very interesting that the racial component is being completely ignored by Ms. Bernstein!

Getting tested is one thing. But what about the years of expensive medication necessary to treat the disease? How can you be assured that the medication will be available if you don't have health care?

Talk about Hillary and people cant stop posting comments,

but when the topic is about discriminatory health

policies and the silence is Deafening!

The people who just within the last decade protested the testing of pregnant women in NYC to have HIV testing in order to protect their newborns are the same people now pushing for HIV testing of all Bronx residents based on this particular study or observation! Why the disparity?!

Manhattan leads in Aids infection over in the City, unfortunately it is the Bronx were most of the deaths occur.

one can easily surmise that the health disparity in communities of people of color, are based in racial disparities that exist in this city.