HIV testing in Africa: how much does it cost... (7)
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What will be the expected average cost that people in Africa could pay
or would be willing to pay for an HIV - test?
Maybe some figures from mosquito bed nets could be used? To have a wide
market coverage of bed nets you need a very low price, and it is a gen-
eral impression from all groups involved in bed nets that if you exceed
a retail price of US$ 10.00 for a family bed net including all duty,
VAT and sales tax, then people will not buy them. A family net will on
average cover 4 persons and last for about 4 years. These are estimates
shared by most NGO's and UN organisations, and have been subject to
years of discussion.
This means that to have the majority of the African population pay for
the prevention of a deadly disease you must ask for less than 1 US$ an-
nually per person. Will they even pay that for an HIV test, which does
not give any prevention?
Best regards,
Torben Vestergaard Frandsen
Disease Control Textiles
Vestergaard Frandsen A/S
Akseltorv 4b
6000 Kolding, Denmark
Tel: +45-75-503-050
Fax: +45-75-503-044
mailto:TVF@vestergaard-frandsen.dk
http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.dk
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