§300dd–32 Requirement of provision of certain counseling services

Summary

The federal government will not give a grant for counseling and testing unless a State agrees to give people counseling before testing. That counseling must cover ways to avoid catching and spreading the agent that causes AIDS, how accurate the tests are, what the results mean (including the chance of developing AIDS), and encourage testing and explain its benefits. If a test is negative, the State must review those same points and talk about whether the person needs more counseling, testing, or education. If a test is positive, the State must also review those points, talk about more counseling and testing, stress the importance of not exposing others, tell the person about local health, mental health, and support services, explain the benefits of finding and counseling people who may have been exposed, and tell them about public health help for locating and counseling those contacts. States may still use the grant to counsel people who will not be tested when testing is not appropriate. The goal is to prevent and reduce exposure to and spread of the agent that causes AIDS. Counseling must tell people that promiscuous sex and injecting drugs are harmful and that avoiding them is beneficial. Grant money cannot be used to promote sexual activity or injecting drug use. After the required counseling, counselors may give accurate information about ways to reduce risk, as long as any written materials are not obscene.