Abstract
HIV-counseling for couples considering voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) is
very important in HIV prevalent areas. This research was carried out in this belief with
the objective of incorporating the counseling system into health centers and increasing the coverage of HIV counseling to more than 80 percent of couples. The work conducted
in the period 2004 -2006 covered 703 pregnant women and their partners who visited the
Antenatal Care Unit at Chun Hospital and health centers in Chun district, Phayao Province.
The results show the success of developing the counseling system so that it can be
incorperated into all health centers during the three successive years (2004-2006). The
coverage of couple HIV-counseling increased to 74, 94 and 89 percent, respectively. The
HIV infection rate in the pregnant women decreased to 1.8, 1.5 and 1.3, respectively. Moreover,
among 11 discordant infected couples with different blood mates, one couple was
evidently infected by each other. No infected born baby was born to these couples during
the period of study.
HIV couple counseling was very useful in protecting against the HIV epidemic; it
encourageed HIV-positive persons to join the system. The service at the Antenatal Care
Unit was suitable for inducing couples to be interested in HIV screening. Distributing the
service among the communities served by health centers was very important since it
made people feel very comfortable to take the service. Moreover, strengthening followup
programs and launching proactive public relations campaigns would produce more
success.
