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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Voluntary HIV/AIDS Counseling and Testing:
Many Africans Do Want to Know
U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
FACT SHEET
WASHINGTON, DC 20523
PRESS OFFICE
http://www.usaid.gov
(202) 712-4320
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, July 12, 2000
New studies in Africa show dramatic increases in demand for Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT), when the services are made accessible, affordable and secure, to those people who want to know their own HIV status.
National household-level health and family planning surveys in Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe have shown that around 60% of adults want to know their HIV status, while 15% or less have had access to VCT. USAID-funded innovations in services and research in East and Southern Africa are helping to resolve controversies about the costs and benefits of VCT in settings where anti-AIDS drugs are not available.
Over 500,000 Ugandans have sought anonymous VCT services at the AIDS Information Center, a pioneering non-governmental organization that has provided client-centered pre- and post-test counseling, HIV testing, and referral to post-test support services since the early 1990's. These services were made possible in part by USAID's consistent technical and financial support (approximately $1 million per year).
USAID and UNAIDS supported a three-country study in Kenya, Tanzania and Trinidad-Tobago that found a package of high quality, anonymous, client centered, HIV counseling and testing helped reduce HIV risk behavior, and is affordable ($12- $24 /client) and cost-effective ($254 per infection averted) in developing country settings.
Barriers to greater use of high quality VCT include low awareness of the psychosocial benefits of counseling and testing, fear of stigma and rejection, and low access to trusted services (cost, distance, quality, confidentiality). The financial and psychological costs associated with waiting for test results reduce the demand for VCT as well as the proportion of clients who return for their test results.
Rapid testing increases demand for services in VCT centers. USAID-supported services in Malawi have found that a change to "same day results" produced a four-fold increase in the number of VCT clients.
Rapid testing increases the proportion of clients who follow through to receive results. Introduction of rapid HIV testing has increased the proportion of clients who received their HIV results from 69% to 99.7% in Malawi. In Zimbabwe's New Start centers, 85.3% of clients chose to be tested and receive their results.
Concerns about partner violence are a barrier to VCT, especially for women, but research in Tanzania with VCT clients has found that the vast majority of men support their partners, regardless of their test result.
Carefully designed radio, TV and print advertising increase awareness and use of VCT services. In Zimbabwe, USAID-supported social marketing has resulted in a four-fold increase in client visits to the nine "New Start" VCT centers launched by the Government of Zimbabwe since 1998.
Removing the element of doubt through VCT benefits both HIV positive and HIV negative clients, and has been shown to increase safer sex practices. When service providers and promotion focus on realistic benefits of knowing one's status, the demand for VCT expands. While not for everyone, the evidence indicates that anonymous VCT services are an essential component to investment in developing countries as a tool for empowerment, and for overcoming the HIV/AIDS stigma and denial that undermines HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support.
This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
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Last Updated on: July 12, 2001 |
