Molano LF, Farley DE, Lane RD; International Conference on AIDS.
Int Conf AIDS. 1998; 12: 876 (abstract no. 43147).
Community Family Planning Council, New York, NY, USA.
ISSUES: This paper examines the experiences of a voluntary prenatal HIV counseling & testing program implemented by the Community Family Planning Council. CFPC provides HIV pretest counselling to thousands of women and men and hundreds of prenatal clients each year. This paper uses this data set to examine the overall success of this voluntary testing effort. PROJECT: Over the last three years CFPC provided HIV counselling services to more than 13,000 women and men. The counselling is provided to all prenatal clients seen at the clinics as well as all clients receiving an annual or semi annual family planning examination. This report focus on prenatal clients and includes all those who, after their initial pretest counselling session either accepted or declined HIV testing. Women are compared by age, race, number of reported risk factors, time spent on pre-test counselling and the type of health care professional providing the counselling. RESULTS: 85% of CFPC's prenatal clients voluntarily agreed to HIV testing: clients who agreed to testing differ significantly by race, number of risks and time spent by counsellor. Although it is CFPC's policy to offer counselling to all prenatal clients the final decision to test rests with the client without affecting access to prenatal services. LESSONS LEARNED: It's CFPC's contention that a voluntary testing program can be successful in achieving high levels of testing and is more flexible and responsive to the needs of pregnant women. Although some arguments for mandatory testing have merit, the negative impact outweighed the benefits especially if mandatory screening discourages women from seeking prenatal care.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- Ambulatory Care Facilities
- Counseling
- Family Planning Services
- Female
- Humans
- Male
- Mandatory Testing
- Mass Screening
- Pregnancy
- Prenatal Care
- Risk Factors
- Voluntary Programs
Other ID:
UI: 102231313
From Meeting Abstracts