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Papers by Catherine Hanssens
Journal of the International AIDS Society, 2012
Background: We evaluated brief combination interventions to simultaneously reduce sexual and inje... more Background: We evaluated brief combination interventions to simultaneously reduce sexual and injection risks among female sex workers who inject drugs (FSW-IDUs) in Tijuana (TJ) and Ciudad Juarez (CJ) Mexico during 2008-2010, when harm reduction was expanding in TJ, but not CJ. Methods: FSW-IDUs ]18 years reporting recently sharing injection equipment and unprotected sex with clients participated in a randomized factorial trial comparing four brief, single-session combinations of active motivational-interviewing and didactic interventions focused on negotiating safer-sex in the context of drug use and safer-injection skills. The injection intervention included a video made by FSW-IDUs. Women underwent quarterly interviews and testing for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, Chlamydia and
Each year in the United States, thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Two Spirit, que... more Each year in the United States, thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Two Spirit, queer, questioning and gender non-conforming (LGBT) people and people living with HIV come in contact with the criminal justice system and fall victim to similar miscarriages of justice.According to a recent national study, a startling 73% of all LGBT people and PLWH surveyed have had face-to-face contact with police during the past five years.1 Five percent of these respondents also report having spent time in jail or prison, a rate that is markedly higher than the nearly 3% of the U.S. adult population whoare under some form of correctional supervision (jail, prison, probation, or parole) at any point in time.In fact, LGBT people and PLWH, especially Native and LGBT people and PLWH of color, aresignificantly overrepresented in all aspects of the penal system, from policing, to adjudication,to incarceration. Yet their experiences are often overlooked, and little headway has been madein dis...
To bring the United States in line with prevailing human rights standards, its National HIV/AIDS ... more To bring the United States in line with prevailing human rights standards, its National HIV/AIDS Strategy will need to explicitly commit to a human rights framework when developing programmes and policies that serve the unaddressed needs of women. This paper focuses on two aspects of the institutionalized mistreatment of people with HIV: 1) the criminalization of their consensual sexual conduct; and 2) the elimination of informed and documented consensual participation in their diagnosis through reliance on mandatory and opt-out testing policies. More than half of US states have HIV-specific laws criminalizing the consensual sexual activity of people with HIV, regardless of whether transmission occurs. Many of these laws hinge prosecution on the failure of HIV-positive people to disclose their HIV status to a sexual partner. The Obama Administration should explore administrative and legislative incentives to eliminate these laws and prosecutions, and target a portion of prevention funding for anti-stigma training. Testing policies should be reconsidered to remove opt-out and/or mandatory HIV testing as a condition for receipt of federal funding; incentives should encourage states to adopt local policies mandating counseling; and voluntary HIV testing should be offered regardless of the provider's undocumented perception of an individual's risk.
Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development, 2012
HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2006
In this feature article, Ann Hilton Fisher, Catherine Hanssens and David I. Schulman (from the AB... more In this feature article, Ann Hilton Fisher, Catherine Hanssens and David I. Schulman (from the ABA) analyze the new guidelines on HIV testing from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and find them wanting. The authors argue that the CDC's recommendation to do away with specific written informed consent for HIV tests is primarily based on a false assumption that the process of securing informed consent constitutes a barrier to HIV testing; and that, on the contrary, streamlined HIV testing, with rapid testing and counselling tailored to each individual's needs, has proven effective while retaining informed consent.
The panelists discussed the issues of names-based HIV reporting and partner notification. The dis... more The panelists discussed the issues of names-based HIV reporting and partner notification. The discussion focused on why names reporting became such an important and controversial issue. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention waged an aggressive campaign in states to institute a national system of HIV test reporting, arguing that it is essential to get a more accurate picture of
Reproductive Health Matters, 2009
To bring the United States in line with prevailing human rights standards, its National HIV/AIDS ... more To bring the United States in line with prevailing human rights standards, its National HIV/AIDS Strategy will need to explicitly commit to a human rights framework when developing programmes and policies that serve the unaddressed needs of women. This paper focuses on two aspects of the institutionalized mistreatment of people with HIV: 1) the criminalization of their consensual sexual conduct; and 2) the elimination of informed and documented consensual participation in their diagnosis through reliance on mandatory and opt-out testing policies. More than half of US states have HIV-specific laws criminalizing the consensual sexual activity of people with HIV, regardless of whether transmission occurs. Many of these laws hinge prosecution on the failure of HIV-positive people to disclose their HIV status to a sexual partner. The Obama Administration should explore administrative and legislative incentives to eliminate these laws and prosecutions, and target a portion of prevention funding for anti-stigma training. Testing policies should be reconsidered to remove opt-out and/or mandatory HIV testing as a condition for receipt of federal funding; incentives should encourage states to adopt local policies mandating counseling; and voluntary HIV testing should be offered regardless of the provider's undocumented perception of an individual's risk.
Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2007
New guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that opt-out screeni... more New guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that opt-out screening for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) without written patient consent be part of routine clinical care and imply that state HIV-associated laws in conflict with this approach should be amended. However, HIV testing and treatment issues are governed by a range of federal and state laws, common law principles, constitutional provisions, and various codes of ethics. Patient testing protocols should satisfy the legal definition of informed consent, to reduce risk of liability for providers (i.e., health care professionals and facilities). Rigid application of the new guidelines may trigger legal claims, especially if there is no link to care for persons with a positive test result, no proof of informed consent, or inadequate counseling. Ensuring confidentiality, better test training for providers, and provider collaboration with HIV service organizations can reduce the risk of patient claims, but state and federal laws, codes of ethics, and concerns about provider liability should temper reflexive wholesale adoption of guidelines that recommend opt-out screening.
New guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that opt-out screeni... more New guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that opt-out screening for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) without written patient consent be part of routine clinical care and imply that state HIV-associated laws in conflict with this approach should be amended. However, HIV testing and treatment issues are governed by a range of federal and state laws, common law principles, constitutional provisions, and various codes of ethics. Patient testing protocols should satisfy the legal definition of informed consent, to reduce risk of liability for providers (i.e., health care professionals and facilities). Rigid application of the new guidelines may trigger legal claims, especially if there is no link to care for persons with a positive test result, no proof of informed consent, or inadequate counseling. Ensuring confidentiality, better test training for providers, and provider collaboration with HIV service organizations can reduce the risk of patient claims, but state and federal laws, codes of ethics, and concerns about provider liability should temper reflexive wholesale adoption of guidelines that recommend opt-out screening.
Journal of the International AIDS Society, 2012
Background: We evaluated brief combination interventions to simultaneously reduce sexual and inje... more Background: We evaluated brief combination interventions to simultaneously reduce sexual and injection risks among female sex workers who inject drugs (FSW-IDUs) in Tijuana (TJ) and Ciudad Juarez (CJ) Mexico during 2008-2010, when harm reduction was expanding in TJ, but not CJ. Methods: FSW-IDUs ]18 years reporting recently sharing injection equipment and unprotected sex with clients participated in a randomized factorial trial comparing four brief, single-session combinations of active motivational-interviewing and didactic interventions focused on negotiating safer-sex in the context of drug use and safer-injection skills. The injection intervention included a video made by FSW-IDUs. Women underwent quarterly interviews and testing for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, Chlamydia and
Each year in the United States, thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Two Spirit, que... more Each year in the United States, thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Two Spirit, queer, questioning and gender non-conforming (LGBT) people and people living with HIV come in contact with the criminal justice system and fall victim to similar miscarriages of justice.According to a recent national study, a startling 73% of all LGBT people and PLWH surveyed have had face-to-face contact with police during the past five years.1 Five percent of these respondents also report having spent time in jail or prison, a rate that is markedly higher than the nearly 3% of the U.S. adult population whoare under some form of correctional supervision (jail, prison, probation, or parole) at any point in time.In fact, LGBT people and PLWH, especially Native and LGBT people and PLWH of color, aresignificantly overrepresented in all aspects of the penal system, from policing, to adjudication,to incarceration. Yet their experiences are often overlooked, and little headway has been madein dis...
To bring the United States in line with prevailing human rights standards, its National HIV/AIDS ... more To bring the United States in line with prevailing human rights standards, its National HIV/AIDS Strategy will need to explicitly commit to a human rights framework when developing programmes and policies that serve the unaddressed needs of women. This paper focuses on two aspects of the institutionalized mistreatment of people with HIV: 1) the criminalization of their consensual sexual conduct; and 2) the elimination of informed and documented consensual participation in their diagnosis through reliance on mandatory and opt-out testing policies. More than half of US states have HIV-specific laws criminalizing the consensual sexual activity of people with HIV, regardless of whether transmission occurs. Many of these laws hinge prosecution on the failure of HIV-positive people to disclose their HIV status to a sexual partner. The Obama Administration should explore administrative and legislative incentives to eliminate these laws and prosecutions, and target a portion of prevention funding for anti-stigma training. Testing policies should be reconsidered to remove opt-out and/or mandatory HIV testing as a condition for receipt of federal funding; incentives should encourage states to adopt local policies mandating counseling; and voluntary HIV testing should be offered regardless of the provider's undocumented perception of an individual's risk.
Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development, 2012
HIV/AIDS policy & law review / Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2006
In this feature article, Ann Hilton Fisher, Catherine Hanssens and David I. Schulman (from the AB... more In this feature article, Ann Hilton Fisher, Catherine Hanssens and David I. Schulman (from the ABA) analyze the new guidelines on HIV testing from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and find them wanting. The authors argue that the CDC's recommendation to do away with specific written informed consent for HIV tests is primarily based on a false assumption that the process of securing informed consent constitutes a barrier to HIV testing; and that, on the contrary, streamlined HIV testing, with rapid testing and counselling tailored to each individual's needs, has proven effective while retaining informed consent.
The panelists discussed the issues of names-based HIV reporting and partner notification. The dis... more The panelists discussed the issues of names-based HIV reporting and partner notification. The discussion focused on why names reporting became such an important and controversial issue. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention waged an aggressive campaign in states to institute a national system of HIV test reporting, arguing that it is essential to get a more accurate picture of
Reproductive Health Matters, 2009
To bring the United States in line with prevailing human rights standards, its National HIV/AIDS ... more To bring the United States in line with prevailing human rights standards, its National HIV/AIDS Strategy will need to explicitly commit to a human rights framework when developing programmes and policies that serve the unaddressed needs of women. This paper focuses on two aspects of the institutionalized mistreatment of people with HIV: 1) the criminalization of their consensual sexual conduct; and 2) the elimination of informed and documented consensual participation in their diagnosis through reliance on mandatory and opt-out testing policies. More than half of US states have HIV-specific laws criminalizing the consensual sexual activity of people with HIV, regardless of whether transmission occurs. Many of these laws hinge prosecution on the failure of HIV-positive people to disclose their HIV status to a sexual partner. The Obama Administration should explore administrative and legislative incentives to eliminate these laws and prosecutions, and target a portion of prevention funding for anti-stigma training. Testing policies should be reconsidered to remove opt-out and/or mandatory HIV testing as a condition for receipt of federal funding; incentives should encourage states to adopt local policies mandating counseling; and voluntary HIV testing should be offered regardless of the provider's undocumented perception of an individual's risk.
Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2007
New guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that opt-out screeni... more New guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that opt-out screening for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) without written patient consent be part of routine clinical care and imply that state HIV-associated laws in conflict with this approach should be amended. However, HIV testing and treatment issues are governed by a range of federal and state laws, common law principles, constitutional provisions, and various codes of ethics. Patient testing protocols should satisfy the legal definition of informed consent, to reduce risk of liability for providers (i.e., health care professionals and facilities). Rigid application of the new guidelines may trigger legal claims, especially if there is no link to care for persons with a positive test result, no proof of informed consent, or inadequate counseling. Ensuring confidentiality, better test training for providers, and provider collaboration with HIV service organizations can reduce the risk of patient claims, but state and federal laws, codes of ethics, and concerns about provider liability should temper reflexive wholesale adoption of guidelines that recommend opt-out screening.
New guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that opt-out screeni... more New guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that opt-out screening for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) without written patient consent be part of routine clinical care and imply that state HIV-associated laws in conflict with this approach should be amended. However, HIV testing and treatment issues are governed by a range of federal and state laws, common law principles, constitutional provisions, and various codes of ethics. Patient testing protocols should satisfy the legal definition of informed consent, to reduce risk of liability for providers (i.e., health care professionals and facilities). Rigid application of the new guidelines may trigger legal claims, especially if there is no link to care for persons with a positive test result, no proof of informed consent, or inadequate counseling. Ensuring confidentiality, better test training for providers, and provider collaboration with HIV service organizations can reduce the risk of patient claims, but state and federal laws, codes of ethics, and concerns about provider liability should temper reflexive wholesale adoption of guidelines that recommend opt-out screening.