Partner Services (including Aphirm)

The mission of the HIV/STI Partner Services program is to help reduce the transmission of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among sex and needle-sharing partners of people diagnosed as having HIV and/or STIs, such as syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia.

Through Partner Services, people with HIV and/or diagnosed with a STIs are counseled about their disease state by their provider or certified Partner Services staff, and given risk reduction information, treatment, and/or referral to other care services as appropriate. People with HIV and/or diagnosed with a STI also are counseled on the importance of notifying their sex and needle-sharing partners and told that assistance is available to help them do that, if needed.

Partner Services depends upon the voluntary cooperation of people with HIV and/or diagnosed with a STI to work with certified staff or other medical providers to share information about their partners so that those individuals may be confidentially notified of their potential exposure and provided risk-reduction counseling and referrals to treatment and other support services.

The Partner Services Patient Guide, a brochure written for patients/clients, explains the HIV/STI Partner Services program. 

Aphirm is a cloud-based data system created by Luther Consulting to capture data from HIV testing and partner services outcomes. Aphirm is funded by CDC funding opportunity announcement PS18-1802. Local public health workers tasked with conducting partner services use this system to document client follow-up and log client responses to questions about medical care and risk behaviors. Aphirm data is de-identified prior to being uploaded to CDC through Evaluation Web for reporting purposes.