Expansion of HIV Laboratory Diagnostic Services in Chennai, India 2001–2006: Is the Growth Commensurate with the Need?

OBJECTIVE To describe the changes in HIV services provided and the patient population utilizing voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) services at private testing laboratories in Chennai, India in 2001 and 2006. METHODS In 2001, a cross-sectional descriptive survey was conducted to assess the services provided and client population of 1,031 private laboratories. A subset of labs (9%) that had been surveyed in 2001 were also studied in 2006. RESULTS In 2001, significantly more high volume labs (>10 HIV tests per month) offered HIV diagnostic tests than low volume labs (<10 HIV test per month) (p<0.001). More high volume labs (20.0%) provided pre-test counseling as part of HIV testing than low volume labs (11.1%) (p = 0.003). Between 2001 and 2006, the number of labs that provided HIV diagnostic tests significantly increased, including ELISA (87.8% vs. 40.0%), Western Blot (84.4% vs. 13.3%), and Tridot (98.9% vs. 72.2%) (p<0.001). Also the number of labs that reported greater than 10 women seeking HIV testing per month significantly increased from 14.5% to 79.0% (p = 0.006). More labs provided pre-test counseling in 2006 (34.4%) than in 2001 (21.1%) (p = 0.046). CONCLUSIONS Though HIV diagnostic testing services have increasingly become available, counseling services have not expanded commensurately. Further outreach and education is necessary to expand comprehensive HIV VCT services in both urban and rural India.