Resource Library

Quantifying the Role of Private for Profit Health Providers in HIV Testing: Analysis of Data from 18 Countries

This presentation reviews the findings from an analysis of the private provision of HIV testing in 18 countries based on data collected through Demographic and Health Surveys and AIDS Indicator Surveys. Important findings include:

• A significant proportion of people use the private sector for testing in several countries
• Use of private sector and socio-economic status of users varies widely by country
• In most countries, private providers perform about as well as public providers on testing during antenatal care visits
• There are unexplained differences between countries in the use of the private sector for HIV testing and between use of the private versus public sector by gender

Findings from this analysis were also presented at AIDS 2012 and are available in the form of a research brief.