National HIV Prevention Conference Atlanta, Georgia, USA — July 27 - 30, 2003

Natl HIV Prev Conf 2003 July 27-30:abstract no. M1-D1604
Wyche MD, Kaiser M, LeSage D, Wheeler C, Zapata A, Zeno T
Louisiana Office of Public Health, HIV/AIDS Program, New Orleans, LA

ISSUE: The reduction and ultimate elimination of mother to child or perinatal transmission of HIV.

SETTING: Statewide comprehensive program utilizing clinical and community settings to screen and educate adolescents and adult women who are pregnant or of childbearing age.

PROJECT: The Perinatal HIV Prevention Coordinator for the Louisiana Office of Public Health HIV/AIDS Program (HAP) and a medical consultant facilitate and coordinate the project, which consists of five interventions: Medical Center Outreach/Rapid Testing Implementation: The program targets the major delivery centers within Louisiana to develop policies on counseling/testing all pregnant women, and implementation of rapid testing protocols for women who present for delivery without documented prenatal care or HIV test results during their current pregnancy. The program coordinator and medical consultant visit all statewide medical centers to consult with medical providers and other personnel to address problems with/ barriers to effective perinatal prevention efforts. Perinatal Fast Track: This innovative intervention entails collaboration among HIV Prevention, Services, Surveillance and the STD Program. Once a pregnant HIV-infected woman is identified, Surveillance and Services databases are checked by the Surveillance Prenatal Epidemiologist to see is she has been reported and is in care or receiving case management services. If a woman is not known to be in care or case management, then her information is sent to the STD Partner Counseling and Referral Program for follow-up. A Disease Intervention Specialist (DIS) contacts the woman and provides referrals for medical and supportive services. Clinician Education: Clinicians statewide are sent educational materials to promote universal prenatal screening for HIV with consent. Moreover, clinicians and nurses are offered the opportunity to enhance their counseling and patient education skills by attending a HAP sponsored preceptorship offered by the Delta Region AIDS Education Training Center. Perinatal Care Network: The aim of the network is to improve the links to medical care and supportive services when women receive a positive HIV test result. For women receiving HIV support services, the program tries to improve retention in prenatal care, coordination of medical services, and increase access to antiretroviral therapy for women and infants. Educational Materials/ Social Marketing Campaign: Currently, HAP distributes educational materials targeting women of childbearing age materials statewide to clinics, health and social service agencies, medical centers, and private clinicians. In addition, 50,000 outreach cards have been distributed statewide to date.

RESULTS: At present 51 agencies statewide have been recruited to participate in this program. In addition, 2 community-based organizations, in Baton Rouge and Monroe, are directly funded by the CDC for perinatal HIV prevention.

LESSONS LEARNED: This program is extremely cost-effective. The Fast Track intervention has to date identified 3 women and referred them into care. Minimal staff are needed to manage, facilitate and coordinate the program. In addition, identification of positive pregnant women, in order to prevent positive infants, saves the state of Louisiana $200,000 per HIV case.

030727
M1-D1604

Copyright notice: The National HIV Prevention Conference is collaborative effort by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a U.S. Government agency and other governmental and non-government organizations. All abstracts published in by the conference organizers are in the public domain and can be used without permission. Proper citation, however, is required.