Challenges of expansion of voluntary counselling and testing in India

Voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) has been recognised as an integral element of any effective HIV public health primary prevention and care program. In India, it is currently estimated that 2.0-3.1 million individuals are living with HIV. As low-cost antiretroviral therapy has increasingly become available in India, VCT could be an important link connecting individuals to treatment and care. Major barriers remain for scaling-up of VCT services, including location of VCT centres, HIV-associated stigma, and lack of perception of HIV risk. Future national expansions of VCT services must engage the Indian private sector, which is likely to remain the largest provider of healthcare for the foreseeable future, through scaling-up personnel in these facilities to provide accurate testing and culturally-relevant counselling.