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Financial incentives did not improve linkage to care or viral suppression in US study
Gus Cairns, 2015-02-28 10:40:00

A US study which offered patients gift cards to present themselves for care after testing, and also to stay in care and maintain an undetectable viral load, did not succeed in its main aims and with most patients. Rates of linkage to care, retention in care and viral suppression were not significantly higher in centres where patients received gift cards than in ones where they did not.

However it did produce some improvement in the proportion of patients who remained in care. And it improved viral suppression rates in smaller and under-performing centres.

Presenter Wafaa el-Sadr, Director of HIV at Columbia Universty’s School of Public Health in New York, said that financial incentives have a potential role in treatment as prevention in specific locations and populations.

Source:1