Number of health facilities that provide HIV testing and counselling services

Number of health facilities that provide HIV testing and counselling services

ID: 
890
What it measures: 

Availability of TC services in health facilities.

Knowledge of HIV status is critical to expand access to HIV treatment, care and support, and prevention. Availability of testing and counselling (TC) services is the pre-requisite for scaling up TC coverage so that more people know their HIV status, which can be expanded through voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) and provider initiated testing and counselling (PITC) models.

Numerator: 

Number of health facilities that provide HIV testing and counselling services

Data Type: 
Count
Method of measurement: 
Numerator: Two possible sources of information, either: 1. Central register of all T&C sites; 2. Central test kit procurement records for the number of facilities requesting kits. If both are available, then provide the information from both. Please include data on all facilities providing services in the country, whether private, public, NGO, or other. Information on availability of certain services are usually summarized at the national or sub-national level. National TC programs should have a record of facilities that provide TC services. Effort should be made to include facilities providing services in the private and NGO sectors, especially where they are a significant provider of TC services. A recent health facility census can also provide this information as well as much more in-depth information on availability of services. All sites where TC is offered should be counted. Thus sites that offer testing and refer out samples to a lab elsewhere, get test results back, and relay results to the client, are included. All sites will be included in the numerator. Disaggregation: If possible, by: 1. Type of health facility (e.g., government health facilities, NGOs, CBOs, mission hospitals, and private health facilities) 2. Type of services offered (e.g., TB clinic, STI clinic, etc) National Representativeness: Effort should be made to include all public, private and NGO-run health facilities The numerator matters in the comparison of trends in service availability over time.
Data Collection
Data Collection Method: 
Programme records
Epidemic Type: 
Concentrated/low level
Generalized
Indicator Type: 
Programme / Service Delivery
Indicator Level: 
National
Disaggregations
Sector: 
Private
Public
Strengths and weaknesses: 

This indicator is intended to monitor availability of TC services as countries continue to expand TC. It does not intend to capture quality of TC services provided.

To look at progress in the number of health facilities which provide testing and counselling. Analyzing the data geographically and by type of health facilities, and triangulating it with population data, can provide insight into where there is a need to increase availability of TC services.

It is recommended that every health facility has the capacity to offer testing and counselling in generalized epidemics. In low-level and concentrated epidemics, the goal may not be to have TC services available in every facility.

Agency: 
World Health Organisation (WHO)
Relevance: 
Universal Access (UA)
Status: 
Active
Document link: 
Keywords
Programme Focus General: 
Infrastructure
Programme Focus Specific: 
Testing & Counseling
Site / Setting: 
Health Care Setting
Goal - Initiative or Country: 
Initiative