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The cost of safe sex: estimating the price premium for unprotected sex during the Avahan HIV prevention programme in India.

ABSTRACT: There is some evidence that female sex workers (FSWs) receive greater earnings for providing unprotected sex. In 2003, the landscape of the fight against HIV/AIDS dramatically changed in India with the introduction of Avahan, the largest HIV prevention programme implemented globally. Using a unique, cross-sectional bio-behavioural dataset from 3591 FSWs located in the four Indian states where Avahan was implemented, we estimate the economic loss faced by FSWs who always use condoms. We estimate the causal effect of condom use on the price charged during the last paid sexual intercourse using the random targeting of Avahan as an instrumental variable. Results indicate that FSWs who always use condoms face an income loss of 65% (INR125, US$2.60) per sex act compared to peers providing unprotected sex, consistent with our expectations. The main finding confirms that clients have a preference for unprotected sex and that policies aiming at changing clients' preferences and at improving the bargaining power of FSWs are required to limit the spread of HIV.

SUBMITTER: Quaife M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6913694 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The cost of safe sex: estimating the price premium for unprotected sex during the Avahan HIV prevention programme in India.

Quaife Matthew M Lépine Aurélia A Deering Kathleen K Terris-Prestholt Fern F Beattie Tara T Isac Shajy S Paranjape R S RS Vickerman Peter P

Health policy and planning 20191201 10

There is some evidence that female sex workers (FSWs) receive greater earnings for providing unprotected sex. In 2003, the landscape of the fight against HIV/AIDS dramatically changed in India with the introduction of Avahan, the largest HIV prevention programme implemented globally. Using a unique, cross-sectional bio-behavioural dataset from 3591 FSWs located in the four Indian states where Avahan was implemented, we estimate the economic loss faced by FSWs who always use condoms. We estimate ...[more]

PMID: 31603470

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Project description:ObjectiveThe study objective is to measure, analyse costs of scaling up HIV prevention for high-risk groups in India, in order to assist the design of future HIV prevention programmes in South Asia and beyond.DesignProspective costing study.MethodsThis study is one of the most comprehensive studies of the costs of HIV prevention for high-risk groups to date in both its scope and size. HIV prevention included outreach, sexually transmitted infections (STI) services, condom provision, expertise enhancement, community mobilisation and enabling environment activities. Economic costs were collected from 138 non-government organisations (NGOs) in 64 districts, four state level lead implementing partners (SLPs), and the national programme level (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)) office over four years using a top down costing approach, presented in US$ 2011.ResultsMean total unit costs (2004-08) per person reached at least once a year and per monthly contact were US$ 235(56-1864) and US$ 82(12-969) respectively. 35% of the cost was incurred by NGOs, 30% at the state level SLP and 35% at the national programme level. The proportion of total costs by activity were 34% for expertise enhancement, 37% for programme management (including support and supervision), 22% for core HIV prevention activities (outreach and STI services) and 7% for community mobilisation and enabling environment activities. Total unit cost per person reached fell sharply as the programme expanded due to declining unit costs above the service level (from US$ 477 per person reached in 2004 to US$ 145 per person reached in 2008). At the service level also unit costs decreased slightly over time from US$ 68 to US$ 64 per person reached.ConclusionsScaling up HIV prevention for high risk groups requires significant investment in expertise enhancement and programme administration. However, unit costs decreased with programme expansion in spite of an increase in the scope of activities.

Dataset Information

The cost of safe sex: estimating the price premium for unprotected sex during the Avahan HIV prevention programme in India.

Publications

The cost of safe sex: estimating the price premium for unprotected sex during the Avahan HIV prevention programme in India.

Similar Datasets

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