The power of partners: positively engaging networks of people with HIV in testing, treatment and prevention

• Published in: Journal of the International AIDS Society Vol. 22; no. S3; pp. e25314 - n/a
• Main Authors: Katz, David A, Wong, Vincent J, Medley, Amy M, Johnson, Cheryl C, Cherutich, Peter K, Green, Kimberly E, Huong, Phan, Baggaley, Rachel C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.07.2019; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; AIDS; Contact tracing; Counseling; Evaluation; Health risk communication; HIV; HIV testing; Human immunodeficiency virus; index testing; Infections; key populations; low and middle income countries; Medical tests; Methods; partner notification; people with HIV; Practice guidelines (Medicine); Social aspects; Social networks; United States; United States > US; Tanzania; HIV testing; index testing; key populations; partner notification; people with HIV; low and middle income countries
• ISSN: 1758-2652; 1758-2652
• DOI: 10.1002/jia2.25314

[...]little emphasis was given to partner testing in practice. [...]while HIV testing coverage increased enormously over the next five years in clinical settings, especially among pregnant women as part of a push to prevent HIV transmission from mothers to their infants, the vast majority of HIV tests were conducted on people who tested as individuals. Since its launch, the number of countries including PNS in their national testing policies and guidelines has increased from 77 in 2016 to 111 by the end of 2017 (C Johnson, personal communication), although many countries were not yet implementing PNS at scale. [...]the number of contacts tested and their results may not be counted in the same setting as the index clients who named them, which limits the interpretation of these data as a true “cascade.” [...]pregnant women, their male partners, healthcare workers and policymakers from Zambia and Malawi considered multiple options for testing male partners of pregnant women .