Study on the requirement,utilization and cost of health service of HIV-infected patients in rural areas

Objective The present study was conducted to investigate the situation of the requirement and utilization of health service for HIV- infected patients in rural areas and actively explore an effective supply mode fit for the requirement of health service for HIV- infected patients in rural areas. Methods Three demonstration regions of comprehensive prevention and control of AIDS were selected, where all survivals with HIV infection were surveyed by questionnaires on their disease histories, therapy histories and medical costs, etc. Results Two- week prevalence of HIV- infected patients (78.08%) was higher than that of general population (34.81%), two- week visit rate of HIV- infected patients (69.86%) was higher than that of general population (31.49%), and average annual clinic cost of each HIV- infected patient (4303.00 yuan) was higher than that of general population (1224.48 yuan). Conclusion The requirement and utilization of medical service of the residents increased because of HIV infection, but high medical cost prevented HIV- infected patients in rural areas from receive medical services. So it is very necessary to establish related policies to improve the utilization rate of health service