As part of ongoing HIV prevention efforts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has requested that the California Department of Public Health, State Office of AIDS (CDPH-OA) offer assistance to hospitals with implementation of HIV rapid testing in California Labor and Delivery (L&D) facilities. 

Since 1994, perinatal transmission of HIV has been greatly reduced among HIV-positive women through therapies given to birthing mothers before and during delivery, and to infants after birth.  The U.S. Public Health Service, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Academy of Pediatrics all recommend HIV testing for pregnant women.  Although great strides have been made in identifying and testing HIV-infected women, those who have not received prenatal care and were not offered HIV counseling and testing are one of the groups still at high risk for transmitting HIV to their infants.  Women in California continue to present to L&D units with undocumented HIV status, putting the health of the laboring woman and her child at unnecessary risk. 

CDPH-OA has contracted with the Pacific AIDS Education and Training Center (PAETC) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to provide training and technical assistance to hospitals in support of the goal of implementing HIV rapid testing in L&D units (“RTLD”).  PAETC clinicians and program staff are available to help assess the ability, readiness, and/or current practice of conducting HIV rapid tests for laboring women who present to L&D with undocumented HIV status.

The PAETC is a network of clinicians and HIV program experts who provide clinical consultation, HIV education and clinical training, and capacity-building technical assistance to clinicians and institutions in their efforts to increase the quality of care provided to HIV-infected patients and families.