Approximately 250,000 people infected with human
immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency
syndrome (HIV/AIDS) in the United States are not
aware of their status.1 To identify these individuals and
offer them counseling and treatment, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced in
2003 a prevention initiative incorporating HIV testing
in routine medical care and implementing new models
of HIV testing outside medical care settings.1,2 Many
educational interventions have sought to improve HIV
treatment, testing rates, and knowledge about HIV
transmission to enable individuals to assess their own
HIV risk status and identify risk-taking behaviors.3-5
However, little is known about how patients’ health
literacy might modify the impact of such prevention
interventions.