HIV screenings no longer free at Health Department

Mississippi Clarion Ledger

In the midst of an HIV epidemic, the state Department of Health will begin charging for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases testing.

An HIV antibody test is performed to determine if the individual is infected with the AIDS virus.

Effective July 1, the Health Department will begin charging a $25 fee for all STD and HIV tests and lab work at all of its clinics. That includes the department's Five Points Clinic, which is home to Crossroads Clinic, the state's STD clinic. The tests have been free.

In the wake of legislative budget cuts, the increase is hitting at the same time Mississippi is suffering from sharp rises in sexually transmitted diseases, including syphilis.

Jackson ranks fourth in the U.S. in per-capita HIV infections. A recent study by Emory University found that four out of 10 gay or bisexual men in Jackson are infected with the AIDS virus — the highest in the nation.

According to data collected from the Health Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 290 diagnosed cases of syphilis in the state in 2013. That number skyrocketed to 821 in 2016.

Acknowledging Mississippi's budget crisis, Deja Abdul-Haqq, director of organizational development for My Brother's Keeper in Jackson, said of the Health Department, "I'm sure they have their reasons."

However, she said, "They’re looking at numbers but they're not considering people."

"It’s not one or two people, it’s families, it’s whole communities," she said. "This epidemic in Mississippi, especially in Jackson, is so concentrated that there’s no way for you to misinterpret this. When four in 10 gay and bisexual men are HIV positive, when we are third in the nation for chlamydia, fifth in the nation for gonorrhea and 12th in the nation for syphilis, when syphilis rates have practically tripled, it’s not just an epidemic, it’s an epidemic on fire and your solution is to take away the small cup of water that we actually have to help."

The Mississippi Department of Health did not respond to interview requests.

In 2015, the latest numbers available, 509 people were diagnosed with HIV in Mississippi.

Dr. Leandro Mena, of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, was unavailable for comment. He previously said that one-third of Mississippians, or approximately 1,700, living with HIV/AIDS receive care and treatment from UMMC.

While adolescents make up 25 percent of the sexually active population, they account for almost half of new sexually transmitted infections, said Mena, director of UMMC’s Center for HIV/AIDS Research, Education and Policy within the Myrlie Evers Williams Institute for the Elimination of Health Disparities.

While those under 19 or identified as a contact by disease investigation specialists won’t be charged the $25 fee, experts worry that the new cost will be a deterrent to others.

"The only way that I know I have an STD is to be tested," Abdul-Haqq said. "Mississippi has a very high impoverishment rate. Twenty-five dollars is not easy for everybody to come by. We have families that have to choose between taking their meds and buying food. This is another hurdle for people when it comes to knowing about their health. It's ridiculous."

Citing Mississippi's budget, Kenyon Farrow, U.S. and Global Health Policy director for the Treatment Action Group, said while the charging for testing is likely "no fault of the Health Department," it will have far reaching impact on the state.

"I understand the constraints that the Health Department is under, but there is no way, at this point, to talk about the epidemic in Mississippi as anything but a real crisis that continues to linger in the background," Farrow said. "Certainly in a state with as much poverty as Mississippi, charging people 25 dollars, which is a lot of money to a lot of people, will be utterly devastating to doing any kind of work to curb new infections, particularly for poor black people. There’s just no doubt about it."

Farrow said, in his opinion, charging for the testing could have been avoided if Mississippi had voted to expand Medicaid.

"The elephant in the room is that the Mississippi governor and state government did not expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which would have provided hundreds of millions of dollars of funding for the state for health care services," he said.

Kathy Garner, executive director of Southern AIDS Coalition in Hattiesburg, said she was puzzled by the decision to charge for testing, calling the move "incredibly disappointing." Southern AIDS Coalition provides free HIV screenings.

"I'm unclear why the state would be charging, and we're not," she said.

Garner said HIV screenings are vital to the welfare of Mississippians.

"When one in six people don’t know their status and that percentage is responsible for more than half of the HIV infections, we’ve got to get those people tested," she said.

"It is critically important that we provide tests to people who want them, preferably free. It is a public health crisis in Mississippi and in order for us to stem the pandemic, we've got to test people where they are."

For free STD and HIV screenings, contact Open Arms Healthcare Center at 601-500-7660. For free HIV screenings, contact Southern AIDS Coalition at 601-450-4286.

Contact Sarah Fowler at 601-961-7303 or sfowler@gannett.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.