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Counseling and Testing

A midwife in Uganda discusses the need to be tested for HIV before delivery with a pregnant client.
A midwife in Uganda discusses the need to be tested for HIV before delivery with a pregnant client.

Did You Know?

AIDSTAR-One has identified and documented lessons from promising programs about how to integrate multiple gender strategies into HIV/AIDS programs in Integrating Multiple Gender Strategies to Improve HIV and AIDS Interventions: A Compendium of Programs in Africa.

Know of a program that integrates gender into HIV programming for most at risk populations? Tell us more....

HIV counseling and testing (CT) services are the crucial bridge to HIV treatment, care, and support. Those who test HIV-positive can access treatment to improve their health and prolong their lives, as well as receive behavior change counseling to learn how to avoid infecting others. Pregnant women living with HIV can initiate treatment to prevent transmitting the virus to their infants. CT can also benefit those who test HIV-negative by encouraging them to avoid risky behaviors that could lead to infection. Because knowledge of one’s HIV status can have a powerful impact on well-being, access to CT has come to be considered a human right.

In the past, CT services were hampered by delays and poor access; because treatment was rarely available, many felt little incentive to seek out CT. But in recent years with the scale-up of antiretroviral treatment, improving, and streamlining CT services became a priority for the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and other global leaders in public health. New CT approaches have expanded the client base by improving access. These include routine testing and counseling as part of antenatal care, mobile CT to attract men and adolescents, and community- and home-based CT to bring services to where people live. Combined with new rapid testing technologies, these efforts have enabled widespread scale-up in many PEPFAR-supported countries.

AIDSTAR-One offers global technical leadership and knowledge management. It supports the piloting of high-quality CT service delivery programs and provides state-of-the-art technical assistance in strategic planning and implementation to U.S. Government partners. AIDSTAR-One seeks to provide:

  • A platform for global technical leadership and knowledge management.
  • Support to strengthen the programmatic content, quality, and sustainability of CT service delivery and to scale up successful approaches.
  • Technical assistance, both short- and long-term, to develop or strengthen existing HIV treatment programs.