HIV Counseling and Testing

The MCA Center offers free confidential HIV counseling and testing services to Los Angeles County residents, including pregnant and non-pregnant women, their children and sexual partners, and adolescents. An expert staff provides comprehensive on-going primary and tertiary care for those testing HIV-positive and prevention education for those who test negative.

Preventing Perinatal Transmission

MCA medical providers are dedicated to working with HIV+ pregnant women and their partners to prevent transmission of HIV to the baby. MCA’s perinatal prevention program emphasizes the importance of close fetal monitoring and ante-partum/post-partum virologic and immunologic testing. Obstetricians provide extensive education about a variety of topics, including transmission rates, the risks and benefits of vaginal versus cesarean-section delivery, the complexity of treatment regimens, and current treatment guidelines, and the need for consistent treatment adherence. MCA also provides counseling to non-pregnant women about their reproductive health, including contraception and family planning.

Health Education and Adherence Counseling

Understanding the importance of HIV treatment adherence is vital to the health outcomes of our patients. HIV-positive patients who take medicines as prescribed and attend medical appointments as scheduled are less likely to put others at risk for infection. To encourage this health promoting behavior, MCA health educators and social workers reinforce adherence messages provided by the primary care team. Staff utilize age-appropriate HIV education and risk reduction techniques to encourage treatment adherence among both children and adults. Directly observed therapy is available for individuals in need of additional support.  

Partnership for Health

MCA providers deliver HIV prevention education using the Partnership for Health model, a brief safer sex intervention designed for HIV outpatient clinics.  The goal of Partnership for Health is to reduce the rate of new HIV infections and re-infections by decreasing unprotected sex among HIV+ patients and increasing HIV status disclosure to partners. Providers utilize program strategies to improve provider-patient communication and increase patients’ knowledge, skill, and motivation to practice safer sex. The Partnership for Health program was developed by Dr. Jean L. Richardson of the USC Department of Preventive Medicine and was selected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an intervention with evidence of effectiveness to be included in their Replicating Effective Programs (REP) project of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. For more information on this program, visit www.usc.edu/partnershipforhealth.