Cost and effectiveness of HIV testing and counseling service delivery strategies in Namibia

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Date
2016
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Namibia
Abstract
HIV Testing and Counseling (HTC) remains an important entry to HIV Prevention, treatment, care and support services. According to the Namibian 2013 Demographic Health Survey (DHS), HTC services among 15-49 year old showed a marked increase, with 79% females and 61% males ever tested against the 2006/7 DHS results with 51% and 32% among females and males respectively. However although testing rates have increased the 2015 WHO HIV Testing Services (HTS) Consolidated Guideline indicates that there are still significant gaps remaining in reaching undiagnosed HIV infected people and effectively linking them to treatment, care and support services with efficient use of limited available resources. The purpose of this study was to determine the cost and effectiveness of delivering different HTC service delivery strategies in Namibia to inform program implementation and efficient resource utilization. The HIV Testing and Counseling Strategies under investigation is facility based strategies including Provider Initiated Testing and Counseling, Integrated Voluntary Counseling and Testing and standalone services (Client initiated testing).Community based strategies such as mobile/outreaches to workplaces and national testing day events was also investigated. A retrospective review of HTC service and expenditure records was done for the Namibian Government (GRN) Financial Years 2010/11-2012/13. Data was analyzed using Epi info version 7. Results indicated that 72% of all HIV tests reported to the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) were conducted at Public Health Facilities (PHF). National Testing Day (NTD) and Standalone facilities conducted 15% and 12% of the tests respectively with workplaces recording the lowest proportion of 0.9%. The highest HIV positivity rate of 21% was identified at workplaces followed by PHF with 9% and 5% for NTD. Workplace had the highest proportion of males tested with 65% and standalone facilities reached the highest proportion of couples tested at 18%. The estimated cost per HIV positive client identified indicated that NTD and PHF recorded the lowest cost with 247 US$ and 297 US$ respectively. Standalone and Workplace had the highest cost per positives identified at 718 US$ for Standalone and 3,791 US$ for Workplace. PHF presents the best strategy to reach more clientele at a low cost. PHF have opportunities to maximize this potential with the ongoing expansion of Provider Initiated Testing and Counseling (PITC) in Namibia. If alternative modalities to reduce service costs are applied, workplace HTC services have significant potential to reach men who are hard to reach through mainstream services and are more likely to be HIV positive. Standalone HTC strategies have potential to improve efficiency while strengthening their ability to reach more couples. NTD identified the lowest cost per positive client identified but because of a high number of repeat HTC testers, this approach needs better targeting to find new HIV positive clients. In conclusion this study indicates that PHF reach more clients with HTC and was effective in identifying HIV infected people at a lower cost in Namibia. However, there is a need to complement this strategy with the other service delivery strategies whose efficiency needs to be strengthened in order to remain relevant in contributing to the National HTC Strategy.
Description
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Public Health
Keywords
HIV testing, Delivery strategies
Citation