Abstract:

Introduction: In Zimbabwe, clients are not supposed to pay for HIV services. However, it is common for clients to purchase medical sundries from the private sector. This is in addition to other opportunity costs like transport. Of late, there is decreasing funding for HIV programs and the health system is constrained. We therefore, assessed the willingness to pay for HIV treatment in case there is a policy change.

Method: We used a cross sectional study design. The contingency valuation method was used to assess the willingness to pay. We randomly selected 552 respondents from the ART database. We used an interviewer-administered questionnaire to collect data. Analysis was done using Epi-Info 7 software. Independent factors were identified using stepwise backward logistic regression.

Results: Among the 552 respondents interviewed, 336 (66.4%) were willing to pay for HIV treatment. The independent factors predicting positive willingness to pay for ART services were being employed, (aOR=3.7; p=0000), satisfaction with health workers, (aOR=6.23; p=0.04) and disclosure of HIV status to a friend (aOR=1.59; p=0.02). Having a household budgetary change due to being on ART (aOR=0.6; p=0.05); practicing no religion (aOR=0.33; p=0.01) were negatively associated with willingness to pay for HIV treatment.

Conclusion: The majority of the people interviewed at RITHS are willing to pay for HIV treatment. However, whilst people on HIV treatment may be willing to pay for treatment we recommend sourcing extra funding from charity and donations in order to maintain equity in providing healthcare services to the population. We, therefore, recommend that treatment should continue to be free.

Keywords: ART, Rimuka, Kadoma

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