HIV Partner Notification and Testing Strategies

Partner notification and testing strategies for HIV encompass a range of approaches designed to identify and engage individuals who may have been exposed to the virus through contact with someone diagnosed with HIV. These strategies include index testing—systematically offering testing to sexual and needle-sharing partners named by an index client—and assisted partner notification, in which health workers actively support or directly notify contacts while preserving confidentiality. By tailoring notification methods (self-notification, provider-assisted or dual referral) to individual preferences and contexts, programmes aim to maximise uptake of testing, expedite diagnosis, reduce onward transmission and link newly identified individuals rapidly to care and treatment. Globally, such interventions have been adapted for diverse settings—from community outreach among key populations to prison and clinic environments—demonstrating both feasibility and high case-finding yields. Integration of partner notification into broader HIV prevention and treatment cascades has been shown to accelerate progress towards public health targets, emphasising the importance of ethical safeguards, stigma reduction and culturally sensitive communication to safeguard participants and optimise outcomes.

Research from Nature Portfolio

No recent Nature Portfolio content available.

HIV Partner Notification and Testing Strategies publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in hiv partner notification and testing strategies across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Assisted partner notification (APN): A service in which trained health workers facilitate the process of informing an index client’s contacts about potential HIV exposure and offer them testing, either by direct provider referral or supervised self-notification.

Index testing: A targeted testing strategy in which sexual or needle-sharing partners identified by a person diagnosed with HIV (the index client) are actively offered HIV testing services.

Index client: The individual newly diagnosed with HIV who discloses the names or contact details of partners at risk for targeted notification and testing.

HIV positivity rate: The proportion of individuals tested who receive a reactive HIV test result, often used to measure the efficiency of case-finding strategies.

Undetectable viral load: A level of HIV RNA in the blood so low that standard laboratory tests cannot measure it; achieving this status through antiretroviral therapy effectively prevents sexual transmission of the virus.

References

1. Impart: findings from a prison‐based model of HIV assisted partner notification in Indonesia. Journal of the International AIDS Society (2023).
2. Characteristics of and Factors Associated With Partner Service Uptake Cascade Among People With Newly Reported HIV/AIDS Diagnoses in Southeastern China in 2022: Cross-Sectional Survey. JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (2024).
3. Scaling Up Testing for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection Among Contacts of Index Patients — 20 Countries, 2016–2018. MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (2019).