National Guideline Changes and Revisions

In November 2001, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published two sets of revised guidelines urging healthcare providers to routinely offer HIV testing, counseling and referral services to patients, especially pregnant women, and people in settings with high rates of HIV or those who have increased risk for HIV. Revised Guidelines for HIV Counseling, Testing and Referral (PDF) and Revised Recommendations for HIV Screening of Pregnant Women (starts on p. 59 of the PDF) are both available for download from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site in PDF and HTML formats.

Guidelines for HIV Counseling, Testing and Referral

These recommendations update and expand on the CDC guidelines that were issued in 1994 and are geared toward public- and private-sector policy makers and service providers of HIV counseling, testing and referral (CTR). The revisions are the result of scientific and programmatic advances in HIV CTR, as well as advances over the last several years in prevention and the treatment and care of people infected with HIV.

Key recommendations include:

• Effectively targeting counseling, testing and referral services
• Prevention counseling
• Linking clients with prevention services and treatment
• Anonymous testing

The revised guidelines stress the importance of reaching individuals with HIV in a wide range of venues, from testing clinics and doctors' offices to non-traditional settings such as nightclubs, mobile vans, and homeless shelters.

HIV testing should become routine for pregnant women with their awareness and ability to "opt-out" of testing if desired.