Antenatal HIV testing: evaluation of uptake and women's attitudes in a low risk population

The number of HIV-positive heterosexuals in the UK is increasing, with a resultant increase in the number of pregnant women who are HIV-positive. The benefits of diagnosing an HIV-positive woman antenatally are well established. The Department of Health of England issued guidelines recommending named voluntary antenatal testing, with a view to achieving a maternal diagnosis rate of 90% by December 2002. In Northern Ireland the policy was distributed in 2003. The screening programme in our hospital had an uptake rate of 98.7 %. Responses to a questionnaire to evaluate the process indicate that HIV testing was associated with low levels of anxiety and that patients were well satisfied with the counselling they received.