The Solution Part One: Testing
The Solution Part Two: Prevention
Costs
The California Office of AIDS published a supplement to HIV Counseling and testing Guidelines, Policies and Recommendations specifically about the OraQuick test, the test that will be used in my testing centers called OraQuick Rapid HIV Testing Guidelines: Policies, Procedures, and Quality Assurance (California, 2003). This document outlined the specific procedures and steps to be taken in setting up a testing site where OraQuick Rapid HIV tests will be used. This is the type of center being set up in Santa Clara County. Specifically, it outlines how a testing center should be set up, what it should contain, and what personnel are required to run it. A testing center must have a minimum of four rooms: a waiting room, a counseling room, a testing room, and a refrigeration room. These costs are included in an estimated monthly rent/heating/electricity cost of $2500 per center. Each center also must have a minimum of a Laboratory Director, a C&T coordinator or Site Supervisor, and Testing Personnel. There need only be one Lab Director for all three satellite branches, the van, and the Crane Center, leaving a Site Supervisor, one Testing Personnel, and an Admitting/Discharge clerk for each of the three satellite centers, and two Testing Personnel for the van. The costs of running the Crane Center are not included in this analysis because they are already being covered, since this center already exists. The total personnel and rent/heating/electrical costs for the three sites were estimated using Monster’s salary estimator (Monster Salary Center), and came to $533,000 per year, and the cost of running a van every night for six months is approximately $100,000 (Rose, et al.), making the total costs of three additional centers plus a van for one year approximately $733,000.
The cost of creating a leadership board, which would be a job of approximately 3-5 hours a week for a government worker, two health educators, and two HIV infected peer counselors would be approximately $23660 (Denholm, Occupation Profile).
In terms of securing the funds, these programs are relatively lucky – on August 29th, 2006, the County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors approved $375,000 in one-time costs for the fiscal year 2006-2007 to be allocated toward HIV testing and prevention services. Therefore, the funds for this plan are already in place, and if those funds are allocated properly and effectively, it will be easier to secure additional funds from the Board of Supervisors in the future. (Beall, Jr., et al., 2006). Also, the benefit of finding and identifying those with undiagnosed HIV, and helping those who already have HIV and still practice high-risk behaviors to reduce those behaviors far outweighs the cost of this program.