The University of South Florida (USF) Center for HIV Education and Research, which houses the Florida/Caribbean AIDS Education and Training Center (F/C AETC), operates the “Perinatal HIV Transmission Prevention Project.” Funded by the Florida Department of Health, the mission of the program is to provide training and technical assistance to Florida health care professionals on the prevention and treatment of HIV transmission between mother and child.

An essential component of the program is the distribution of educational materials to health care providers throughout the state. These materials include brochures, posters, and on-line resources designed to inform providers and patients about the importance of HIV testing as a routine part of health care maintenance and the Florida law related to HIV/STD testing and reporting in pregnancy.

A team of highly skilled instructors are available throughout Florida to educate providers on the most current treatment options for reducing perinatal HIV transmission. The goals of the program are to increase the number of health care providers who include HIV/STD testing based on Florida law using the opt-out approach as a routine part of prenatal care; offer treatment and care according to the recommended guidelines for the use of antiretroviral drugs in pregnancy; and offer prevention education to high-risk pregnant women and women of childbearing age.

In 2004 the project expanded its scope by including education and technical assistance on the implementation of rapid HIV testing in labor and delivery. As a result over two-thirds of Florida’s delivering hospitals have implemented rapid testing in their labor and delivery units. In 2006, the project furthered the rapid testing initiative by collaborating with the F/C AETC.

The perinatal project coordinator provides technical assistance to statewide perinatal nurses, linkage coordinators and community perinatal task force members to achieve consistency in provider education throughout the state.

Join us and partner with other perinatal health care professionals to assure continuity of care for HIV positive women and their exposed infants. Share your thoughts, ideas and suggestions; best practices in perinatal HIV prevention and care; a resource or article; problems, concerns or questions by logging on to our Perinatal HIV Prevention Community Forum.