Publicly funded HIV counseling and testing--United States, 1991

Abstract

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) counseling and testing (CT) services provided by health departments are a major component of the national HIV-prevention program. The purpose of HIV CT is to 1) reinforce perception of risk by those who are unaware or uninformed, 2) help uninfected persons initiate and sustain behavior changes that reduce their risk for becoming infected, and 3) identify HIV-infected persons who can be referred for early medical care and counseled to practice safer behaviors. The use of publicly funded HIV CT has steadily increased; in 1991, nearly 2,091,000 HIV-antibody tests were performed, compared with approximately 79,000 tests in 1985. CT services are provided by health departments in 65 HIV-prevention project areas including the 50 states, the District of Columbia, six cities, and eight territories. Each calendar quarter, the programs report to CDC data regarding the number of pretest counseling sessions. HIV-antibody tests, positive tests, and posttest counseling sessions. Information is also provided on self-reported risk category, age group, sex, and race/ethnicity. This report summarizes data reported for 1991.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)