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State health officials have backed away from a proposal to increase the timeframe between mandated STD tests for sex workers. In May, a Department of Health official announced that Victoria in September would switch required testing of sex workers from a monthly to a quarterly basis. Within days, however, a spokesperson for Health Minister David Davis said the proposal did not have his support.The minister has received the proposal, but he “has not been persuaded that the proposed changes are appropriate,” the spokesperson said.
Monthly testing wastes public health resources, said Christopher Fairley, professor of sexual health at Melbourne University. In a study of 2,896 female sex workers screened for STDs during three years at the Melbourne Sexual Health Center, just 3 percent were positive. About 41 percent of 4,208 STD cases diagnosed there during that time were among men who have sex with men.
Doctors turn away thousands of patients seeking STD tests every year due to the backlog of mandatory screening of sex workers, Fairley said. The center turned away about 1,200 people in the first quarter of this year, due in part to the mandate, he said. About 3,000 more patients could be seen each year if the state approved quarterly testing of sex workers, he estimated.
Mandatory testing also upends a culture of informed consent, which “provides a supportive environment where patients can freely discuss their concerns,” said Bebe Loff, director of the Michael Kirby Center for Public Health and Human Rights. It can also fuel demand for unprotected sex among clients who think of tested workers as “clean,” said Cheryl Overs, founder of the Australian Prostitutes Collective.
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