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| About our Work: HIV Counseling and Testing (Last Updated: January 2005) |
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» HIV
Counseling and Testing Tools
HIV counseling and testing encourages individuals to learn their HIV status,
reduce their HIV risk, and provides them with appropriate linkages to care,
treatment, and support services. There are several models of HIV counseling and
testing, that are used in different settings:
Voluntary HIV Counseling and Testing (VCT) gives clients an opportunity to
confidentially explore their HIV risks and to learn their HIV test result. VCT
services can be provided in freestanding sites or imbedded within other
facilities, such as health centers, workplace settings, and military facilities.
The target audience is individuals who are interested in knowing their HIV
status and learning how to reduce their risk. The focus of the counseling
sessions is on risk assessment, risk reduction, partner referral, and linkages
to care, treatment, and support.
Couple HIV Counseling and Testing (CHCT) allows sexual partners to learn
their HIV status together as a unit. It is offered at VCT sites but may also be
offered in other settings as well, such as prenatal clinics. CHCT is an
important intervention because as many as 30% of couples in high HIV prevalence
countries are serodiscordant, or have one partner who is infected with HIV and
one who is not. Counseling sessions focus on discussing risk issues and
concerns, risk reduction, and linkages to care, treatment, and support.
Provider-initiated HIV counseling and testing takes place in clinical settings,
such as medical wards, and tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infection
clinics, for the purposes of HIV diagnosis and clinical care management. Pre-
and post-test counseling sessions focus on recommending and offering the HIV
test, obtaining informed consent, using the test results to make medical care
decisions or recommendations, and providing appropriate referrals.
Testing and counseling for Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV
(PMTCT) occurs in prenatal and labor and delivery settings for the purposes of
learning a pregnant woman's HIV status and, if necessary, providing a PMTCT
intervention. Pre- and post-test counseling sessions focus on recommending and
offering the HIV test, obtaining informed consent, using the test results to
make decisions about PMTCT, and providing appropriate referrals for follow-up
care, treatment, and support.
The Global AIDS Program, with U.S. Government funding, assists ministries of
health, nongovernmental organizations, and multilateral and bilateral
organizations, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development and the
World Health Organization, to strengthen their HIV counseling and testing
efforts by providing:
- intervention protocol development;
- training for HIV counseling and testing;
- assessment and program planning;
- quality assurance and program management;
- monitoring and evaluation.
CDC-Supported HIV Counseling and Testing Activities HIV
counseling and testing services play a vital role in the global scale up of HIV
care, treatment, and prevention services.
In Kenya, with U.S. Government (USG) funding, CDC helped
establish... special HIV counseling and testing services for vulnerable
populations, including youth and the hearingimpaired.
In Uganda, with USG funding, CDC helped... train community health workers
to visit villages and provide home-based HIV counseling and testing services to
household members of HIVpositive persons.
In Ethiopia, with USG funding, CDC supported... the establishment of VCT
services at military health facilities and workplace settings.
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