Italy
As of January 2017 we are informed that HIV test kits will be offered for sale in Italian pharmacies within the next month or so.
| National policy | |
|---|---|
| National policy/strategy or official recommendations on HIV testing? | Yes |
| National policy/strategy document | |
| Who can administer HIV tests? | |
| Restrictions on who can legally administer HIV tests? | Yes |
| Which groups can legally do HIV testing? |
|
| Further comments | As regards community-based testing in Italy, it is common practice to have the supervision of a healthcare professional (doctor or nurse) when administering HIV tests, but actually there are no legal barriers imposing such practice. According to one respondent there should be some important changes in the very near future. |
| Free HIV testing | |
| HIV testing free to all who want it? | Yes in certain places |
| Further comments | Private laboratories may charge a fee. Some hospitals require a co-payment. |
| Is free HIV testing available? | Across whole country |
| Further comments | |
| HIV testing restrictions | |
| HIV testing access restricted for some groups/populations? | No |
| Which groups are restricted | |
| Further comments | Access to HIV testing is restricted for people under the age of 18 or under the age of 16 if not married. For HIV testing a written consent from parents or legal guardian is required if under 16. One respondent stated that migrants and incarcerated people can face difficulties in the form of stigma by their peers but there are no structural or legal restrictions. |
| Availability of testing in non-clinical settings | |
| Is testing available in any of the following ways? | |
| Postal HIV sampling legal? | No |
| Home HIV testing legal? | No |
| Community testing at NGOs legal? | Yes |
| Community/outreach event testing legal? | Yes |
| Other | NGOs are facilitating testing through specific programmes and outreach activities |
| Rapid tests used by community based testing services/initiatives? | Finger blood, Saliva |
| Anonymity/Confidentiality of HIV testing | |
| Anonymous testing available? | Yes |
| If yes, please give details | People must give their name but these are protected by the service providers by codes; no personal data at hospitals or checkpoints. Employers are not allowed to get information about the HIV status the employees, with a few exceptions (certain medical environments and police/army). One respondent stated that there are individual cases where confidentiality isn't respected. |
| If not, why not, what sort of information is required and is there any promise of confidentiality? | |
| Discrimination & equality | |
| Legislation | |
| Legislation protecting the rights of people with HIV? | Yes |
| Key documents | |
| Further comments | Employers are not allowed to get information about the HIV status of the employees, with a few exceptions (certain medical environments and police/army). Legislation: articles 5-6 Legge 135/90 1)the transmission of data for epidemiological surveillance of HIV infection cases must not allow the identification of the individual. 2)nobody can be tested for HIV without his/her consent, except for clinical needs in the interest of the patient. 3)the results of an HIV test can be given exclusively to the individual concerned 4)an HIV diagnosis cannot be reason of discrimination, especially for enrolment at school, for the participation in sport activities, for access to employment. 5)employers , both public and private, cannot investigate in any way the HIV status of their employees or of individuals they are thinking of employing, with very few exceptions (police corps and healthcare workers). |
| Other key populations | |
| Needle exchange available for people who inject drugs? | Yes |
| Further comments | Low level of availability and not available in prisons. |
| Opiate substitution therapy available? | Yes |
| Further comments | Low level of availability. |
| Are PWID (people who inject drugs) excluded from HIV treatment while actively using drugs? | No |
| Further comments | |
| Legal to sell sex? | No |
| Further comments | |
| Legal to buy sex? | No |
| Further comments | Exploitation of prostitution is a criminal offence according to the Law n. 75 (1958) that lists all the acts that qualify as exploitation of prostitution, i.e. to run a space for prostitution by being the owner, manager, administrator or director; to grant the use of a space for the exercise of prostitution; to tolerate the use of a space for the exercise of prostitution; to recruit someone to prostitute; to induce someone to prostitute on the national territory and abroad; to exercise any activity as part of an organisation or association that exploit prostitution; to exploit or facilitate prostitution. (For more information: http://sexualrightsdatabase.org/map/21/Adult%20sex%20work/387/Italy) |
| Access to HIV Treatment | |
| Free access to HIV treatment? | Yes, for some |
| Further comments | It is available for all the citizens, yet a registration to the NHS and a fee are required for those who don't have citizenship |
| Status and access to HIV treatment and care in your country | |
| Access to HIV treatment restricted for certain populations with HIV? | Yes |
| Which groups are restricted? |
|
| If more than one of the above populations selected, please give more information | |
| Status | |
| Country status | EU |
| Mobility in Europe | |
| Do the following groups/populations have legal access to HIV treatment? (i.e provided on the same basis as citizens of the country) | |
| Legal treatment access: Other EU migrant nationals | Yes there is universal access |
| If yes but exceptions, please describe | |
| Legal treatment access: general non-EU migrants | Yes but there are exceptions |
| If yes but exceptions, please describe | They may have access, yet a registration to the NHS and a fee are required for those who don't have the citizenship |
| Legal treatment access: Non-EU migrants with asylum/refugee status | Yes but there are exceptions |
| If yes but exceptions, please describe | Need to be registered within the NHS |
| Legal treatment access: Non-EU migrants who are undocumented | Yes but there are exceptions |
| If yes but exceptions, please describe | |
| Further comments | |
| About this data | |
| Last minor revision | 12 July 2016 |
| Last major revision | 20 January 2017 |
| Published | |
| Data sources | As well as responses from in-country individuals and organisations were taken from the following sources: http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/healthtopics/aids/Pages/monitoring-dublin-declaration.aspx Sex Work Laws These included https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_by_country#Europe The Global Network of Sex Work Projects www.nswp.org and country sources and http://sexualrightsdatabase.org/map/21/Adult%20sex%20work and http://spl.ids.ac.uk/sexworklaw Drug use Needle exchange information was taken from Harm Reduction International who have an interactive tool https://www.hri.global/global-state-of-harm-reduction Criminal Law http://criminalisation.gnpplus.net has useful info about the criminal law and is searchable by country as well as http://www.hivjustice.net/site/countries/ MSM http://ilga.org/what-we-do/state-sponsored-homophobia-report/ (2016) |
| Data contacts | Responses were received from Plus onlus ( www.plus-onlus.it ) and NPS Italia onlus (www.npsitalia.net). |