Voluntary Counseling and Testing

A public health approach to HIV testing, commonly abbreviated VCT, that pairs the test itself with two counseling sessions, pre-test counseling beforehand and post-test counseling once results are available, with the counseling addressing the HIV infection, the disease AIDS itself, the testing process and ways to reduce future risk through behavior change. VCT centers commonly use rapid HIV tests that need only a drop of blood or a swab of cells from inside the mouth, an approach valued for being inexpensive, requiring only limited staff training to administer, and returning results in about fifteen minutes rather than requiring a laboratory turnaround. The approach has been especially widely adopted across African nations, where large numbers of people have sought VCT services to learn their HIV status as national programs expanded access to testing and counseling.