Rohit Koul Pathfinder International, Pune, India XIX International AIDS Conference

1. Assessing Quality of Services Provided by Community-Preferred Private Providers for Sexually Transmitted Infections in a Targeted HIV Prevention Program in Maharashtra, India. Rohit Koul Pathfinder International, Pune, India XIX International AIDS Conference

2. The Program • Targeted HIV prevention in 10 high priority districts in Maharashtra since 2004 • More than 25000 FSWs and MSM The Challenge • Providing quality STI services that are accessible and acceptable • Significant improvement in coverage for STI services by involving private providers • Data on quality is limited The Intervention • Local private providers preferred by community contracted in one of the districts (2005) and model scaled across all districts (2008) • Clinic quality assessment tool implemented in 2007

3. The Assessment • 290 records of 227 preferred providers in 10 districts (2007-2011) analyzed • Six broad quality enquiry areas • Access • Clinic Environment • Structural • Mean quality score/PP overall and by type of provider, intervention & setting-assess levels and trends of quality of STI care. • Observed consistent increase in score (39.5 in 2007 to 62 by 2011). • Score for non-allopathic and private providers (rural) was less than allopathic and urban providers (statistically insignificant). • Biggest increases observed in clinic environment and competence (>2-fold) with an overall 1.5-fold improvement. • Service Delivery • Technical • Community Involvement

4. The Conclusion While scaling up STI services through private sector involvement, quality of STI service can be improved and maintained through community participation and intense supportive supervision.

6. THANK YOU