December 2006

Expanding HIV Testing and Counseling
Operations research examines strategies to increase access and uptake

Provider-initiated and client-initiated HIV testing and counseling are important gateways to HIV prevention, care, and treatment. Photo credit: Bev Symmonds/©Population Council

With estimates of 40 million people worldwide living with HIV, of which less than 10 percent know their status, HIV testing and counseling is widely regarded as key to effective prevention and treatment efforts. Over the past year, a move toward health provider-initiated testing for HIV has gained support among governments and the international health community. However, provider-initiated testing requires trained health workers and clear guidelines that address such issues as patients’ rights to opt out, counseling, and confidentiality. For provider-initiated testing to yield maximum health impact, it also needs to occur in the context of expanded HIV care and treatment services.

While opt-out testing in health facilities represents an important advance in increasing the number of individuals who know their HIV status, it cannot replace voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) and the need for strategies to reach people who are outside of routine health services.

This issue of Horizons Report examines HIV testing from different angles, drawing from relevant studies in several countries. These include the readiness of health workers in Kenya to provide routine HIV testing, and the effectiveness of workplace VCT programs in Kenya and Zambia to reach health workers and teachers—two large and important populations. The issue also describes strategies for increasing uptake of testing by truckers in Brazil and the role of families in youths’ decision-making to get tested for HIV in Zambia.

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© 2006 The Population Council, Inc.

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See Also

• FRONTIERS

• Population Council – Infants and Children

• Population Council – Journals and Newsletters

• Population Council – Prevention

• Population Council – Youth

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This page updated 11 January 2007

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