Development and funding of public HIV counseling and testing services in the United States.

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1990. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Development and funding of public HIV counseling and testing services in the United States.

Int Conf AIDS. 1989 Jun 4-9;5:90 (abstract no. M.A.P.75). Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE ICA5/00023289
Cahill K; Bowen G; Kirby C; Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Atlanta, GA, USA

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To describe the history and development of public sector funded HIV counseling and testing (CT) services in the U.S. since 1985. METHOD: We reviewed quarterly reports from State HIV/AIDS prevention programs and the CDC funding awards of State AIDS prevention cooperative agreements in order to document funding levels for CT, number and location of CT sites, and the number and seropositivity rates of clients served. RESULTS: Since voluntary HIV antibody counseling and testing services became one of the strategies to prevent HIV infection in 1985, client demand for such services has increased dramatically. In 1985, there were 874 alternate testing sites that tested 79,083 persons nationwide. There were 917 sites and 180,000 tested in 1986, and 1580 sites and 504,000 tested in 1987. Reports show 215,000 persons were tested (annual rate of 860,000) in 1958 sites during July-September of 1988. Funding for risk reduction counseling and testing services increased from $9.8 million in 1985 to $87.5 million in 1989. The rate of seropositivity has decreased from a high of 17.3% in 1985 and 15.0% in 1986, to 5.8% in 1987 and 4.9% in 1988. CONCLUSION: Although the original purpose of HIV antibody testing was to protect the blood supply, risk reduction counseling combined with testing has become one of the important intervention strategies available to change sexual and needle sharing behaviors. The increases in funding for these programs in the U.S. has enabled an expansion of CT services to confidential testing facilities in sexually transmitted diseases, women's health and drug treatment facilities in 1988 and 1989.

Keywords: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/PREVENTION & CONTROL Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) *Financing, Government Human HIV Infections/*PREVENTION & CONTROL HIV Seropositivity Sex Counseling/*ECONOMICS United States ABSTRACT
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