Heed nurses' voices for effective HIV responses
The aforesaid event considered a range of options for nurses to be more influential in the HIV response. Shaun Watson, currently chair of the UK's national HIV nursing association, shared details with CNS (Citizen News Service www.citizen-news.org) of the U=U campaign to which an increasing numbers of nursing groups are signing up to, such as NHIVNA (UK), the European HIV Nursing Network, and the Dutch HIV Nursing Association. For Shaun Watson, "As the people who diagnose HIV, start treatment, monitor adherence, listen to and manage concerns over symptoms and side effects, it will be nurses at the forefront of the U=U campaign. The evidence is clear that the risk of sexually passing on HIV when virally suppressed and engaged in care is zero. This is an important message to get across not only to HIV nurses but to every other nurse."
Given the dominance of nurses in HIV care, speaking the truth to those in power must be within their remit. Nurses should not be afraid to raise their voices and be heard against the background of an ever-increasing dominance of medicalisation and reliance on data gathering in the HIV response. For Susan Strasser, Senior Implementation Director of ICAP's global portfolio of public-health programmes at Columbia University, the epidemic control of HIV will "only be achieved on the backs and in the hands of nurses."
Dr Ian Hodgson, CNS
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