INVESTIGATING THE QUALITY OF HIV TESTING AND COUNSELLING OF A PEPFAR FUNDED ORGANIZATION IN RELATION TO A NON-PEPFAR FUNDED ORGANIZATION

Abstract

The purpose of this research article is to report the findings of an implementation evaluation that was conducted to assess the quality of services offered by two service providers at an HIV testing campaign, rolled out at the University of Cape Town (UCT). This evaluation was conducted to investigate the quality of service provided by a PEPFAR funded HIV testing organisation and a non-PEPFAR HIV testing organisation. The HIV testing campaign was open to all students at UCT. The goal of the campaign was to encourage students to know their status and be informed about safer sex practices. The HIV testing and counselling process ran for three days in August 2011.

The sample of this evaluation consisted of UCT registered students who volunteered to take part in the HIV testing and counselling campaign. The non-probability sampling method was used. This entailed selecting students on the basis of their availability to test for HIV. To gather data for the evaluation, a quantitative survey questionnaire was developed and administered.

Findings from this evaluation revealed that both service providers offered a good quality service. In other words, the HIV testing services provided by the PEPFAR funded organisation compared favourably with the services provided by a non-PEPFAR funded organisation.