Roksana Janghorban - PhD, Assistant Professor in Reproductive Health, Community Based Psychiatric Care Research Center, Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Fatemeh Azarkish - PhD, Assistant Professor in Reproductive Health, Iranshahr University of Medical Sciences, Iranshahr, Iran

Partner Notification (PN) for human immunodeficiency infection (HIV) has beenrecommended as an important step in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)management to help interrupt transmission of infection, prevent potential re-infection, andprevent complications. This study introduces the main approaches to PN have been suggestedfor HIV positive patients.Materials &Methods: The Medline, Embase, and Google Scholar databases were searched toidentify studies published between 1995 and 2015 on various approaches of HIV partnernotification.Results: Three main approaches to PN have been suggested for HIV positive patients: (1)provider-oriented notification methods that use third parties (usually health-care personnelserving as contact tracers ); (2) patient-oriented notification methods that use index patientsnotify their partners, with or without the medication to actually treat the partner for theputative infection or infectious exposure, and (3) a mixed approach of contact-notificationthat engages the index patients to notify their partners, with an understanding that health-carepersonnel will notify those partners who do not present for treatment within a given time.Conclusion: Counsellors regularly encounter ethical, legal and moral dilemmas betweenrespecting patients’confidentiality and autonomy, and protecting patients’ sexual partners atrisk of HIV infection.This reflects the complexity of partner notification and demonstrates that no single approachis optimal, but instead certain contextual factors and a combination of different approachesshould be considered.

Partner notification, HIV, AIDS