Collaborations
National Organizations

Collaborations

If you are developing a perinatal HIV prevention program, there are many existing resources that we encourage you to investigate. Many existing prevention and intervention programs have an interest in similar populations (pregnant women, infants, and their providers) and, with minimal changes, these programs can be adapted to serve perinatal HIV prevention aims as well. For example, consider the following potential collaborations:

Collaborate with MCH

• Increase proportion of women receiving PNC
• Promote access to contraceptive services to prevent unintended pregnancy
• Incorporate HIV testing messages in other communications with prenatal care providers

Collaborate with HIV Counseling and Testing

• Increase outreach to women of childbearing age
• Incorporate perinatal prevention messages in C&T literature

Collaborate with other HIV supportive services

• Promote HIV care services, especially among women of childbearing age
• Develop linkages between HIV care services and prenatal care services to ensure that women with HIV who become pregnant are rapidly referred to prenatal care.
• Ensure that HIV-infected pregnant women and HIV-exposed infants have rapid access to prophylactic drugs, through the state ADAP if necessary
• Promote communication between HIV care providers and prenatal/obstetric care providers

Work directly with hospitals

• Assess availability of rapid testing in labor and delivery units as a part of licensing and accreditation processes
• Assess offering of HIV testing in hospital-based prenatal care clinics as a part of licensing and accreditation processes

Go to top

National Organizations

In addition to collaborations within your own state, CDC funds several national organizations to assist in prevention of perinatal HIV transmission throughout the United States. These organizations have broad expertise and a wide variety of materials and resources that may be useful for developing a perinatal prevention program. For example:

• Information is available about the Strategic Planning Workshops for Implementation of HIV Screening in Acute Care Settings, as well as a Replication Guide for developing similar workshops.
• A Legislative Toolkit designed for legislators to use when crafting new or revised perinatal HIV legislation.  Also valuable to public health professionals as you communicate with lawmakers about drafting and promoting perinatal HIV legislation. To receive a toolkit from ACOG, email your request, including mailing address, to Becky Carlson.
• Profiles of Perinatal HIV Prevention is a compendium of best practices from successful perinatal HIV prevention programs in urban communities. It is available for download on CityMatCH’s website at http://www.citymatch.org. Click on Perinatal HIV Prevention on the right.
• The AIDS Education and Training Centers (AETC) National Resource Center provides education and training resources for the network of regional AETCs. Training tools and presentations are available for download. For more information visit their website at http://www.aids-etc.org.
• Action Learning Labs (ALL) were developed to assist state-level maternal and child health (MCH) programs develop and enhance their perinatal HIV prevention strategies. The ALLs promote collaboration so that diverse teams can learn from each other and establish partnerships that may result in enduring systems improvements. The Lessons Learned document from the ALL activity can be accessed on AMCHP’s website at http://www.amchp.org/policy/publications/web/phiv-all-
  lessons-learned.php.
• A survey of state MCH directors to assess their perinatal HIV prevention activities was conducted in 2004. For more information on the methodology and results of this survey, visit the AMCHP website at http://www.amchp.org/aboutamchp/publications/web/
  phivsurvey.php.
• A comparison of state laws regarding HIV testing has been developed in an easy-to-use format. Information is available for individual states as well as cross-state comparison. To access this resource visit the HRET website at http://www.hret.org/hret/about/map.html.
• Charts comparing aspects of the available FDA-approved rapid HIV antibody screening tests have been developed. These charts show similarities and differences among the tests on criteria such as specimen type, sensitivity and specificity, storage and operating temperatures, and price. To view or download these charts, visit the HRET website at http://www.hret.org/hret/programs/hivtransmrpd.html.
• Preventing Perinatal HIV Transmission: Field Update is a periodic newsletter which provides the most up to date information on perinatal HIV prevention. To access the latest copy of the newsletter, visit the HRET website at http://www.hret.org/hret/programs/hivtransm.html and click on the Field Update at left. To subscribe to the Field Update, contact Jennifer Reiter.
• The National HIV/AIDS Clinicians’ Consultation Center (NCCC) has developed a Compendium of State HIV Testing Laws. The Compendium comprises the specific legal language of laws in all 50 states that are relevant to HIV testing and a summary of these laws in a Quick Reference Guide. A full report of laws can be downloaded for each state. The guide, which is updated periodically, is available online at http://www.ucsf.edu/hivcntr/StateLaws/Index.html.

  Go to top