Advancing social justice, promoting decent work
ILO is a specialized agency of the United Nations
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Position Paper on Mandatory HIV Testing in the Arab States
ILO considers that alternative policy options, such as voluntary HIV testing and counselling should be implemented. This paper examines the societal and economic impacts of mandatory HIV testing and makes recommendations on how countries can respect migrant workers’ fundamental rights while preventing HIV transmission and addressing mitigate the impacts of HIV epidemic.
The paper sets out alternative policy options to mandatory HIV testing and evidence around their effectiveness based on the relevant literature.
While the paper sets out the issues around mandatory HIV testing and evidence from various countries, it also includes a proposal for the design of a future study aimed at investigating the economic and societal costs and outcomes of mandatory HIV testing and various HIV interventions. This future study would allow researchers to identify what is available and what is missing, and what data is required to perform informative economic analyses for various HIV policy options. The outputs of such a study would provide policy-makers with guidance on how to make informed decisions on prioritisation of limited resources.
