|
|
 |
VCT effective in HIV/AIDS prevention
Reprinted courtesy of IRIN PlusNews Weekly Issue No. 60, 4 January 2002.
|
HIV/AIDS voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) is a highly cost-effective prevention strategy in developing countries, a recent study found.
VCT provides individuals and couples with knowledge of their status and empowers them to seek care and support. Even when advanced HIV/AIDS
treatment is not easily available, individuals can receive assistance in developing risk reduction plans based on their HIV status and sexual relationships.
Despite this, many healthcare providers in developing countries believe that VCT has a minimal role in preventing HIV/AIDS.
Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco conducted a randomised controlled trial in Kenya, Tanzania and Trinidad to determine
the efficacy of HIV VCT in resource-poor settings.
In Nairobi, a clinic was established in a poor neighbourhood and offered VCT services to individuals and couples. The participants received
pre-test counselling, HIV testing as well as post-test counselling. Follow up visits offered a behavioural survey and STD diagnosis and treatment.
Over 3,000 indviduals and 500 couples took part in the trials.
The researchers found that VCT for HIV-1 reduces unprotected intercourse among individuals and couples. Reduction of unprotected intercourse was
significantly greater among those who tested positive for HIV-1.
Seventy percent of the individuals and 91 percent of the couples who participated in the trial, revealed their status to their sexual partners.
These high rates of disclosure were attributed to the type of counselling provided by VCT.
[This item is delivered to the "PlusNews" HIV/AIDS Service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations.] |
| Was this article helpful to you? |
 ?0%???? ?0%
|
|
Back
|
|
|
|
