ICTC full form in medical term means Integrated Counseling and Testing Center. It is a center normally located in government hospitals where patients are tested and counseled for HIV tests of their free will and are further advised and guided by dedicated medical personnel. It was started back in 1997 to help in the early identification and diagnosis of HIV cases and to help provide basic information to the patient on the recovery and steps to help stop the transmission of the disease. It also works in behavioral changes and provides care and treatment facilities to the patients.
There are over 20,756 ICTC centers mostly in government hospitals across India. These centers help in providing the right information to the public. They focus on treating people of their free will and focus on the range of subpopulations at risk of HIV prevalence like drug users, migrant workers, truckers, sex workers, clients of sex workers, and related spouses and children of the patient. They help in counseling patients in the prevention of cross-referral transmission, parent-to-child transmission, and more. ICTC centers also help in activities like free of cost care and treatment, rapid testing of HIV via their labs, free condom distribution, confidential counseling, and more.