A new Canadian study is paying people $10 each to be tested or treated for HIV/AIDS. The British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS researchers behind this effort initiated the study on Friday, beginning with 139 people from Prince George, Victoria, Surrey, and Vancouver. The participants were chosen for health issues that make them at risk for the disease.
According to reports, this pilot study, which aims to test and treat people for HIV/AIDS, pays patients $10 each for every two visits. In a statement, research scientist Mark Hull said, “The goal is to get everybody that could be diagnosed with HIV aware of their status and get onto antiretroviral therapy, which is obviously life saving for them and also protects them from passing on the virus to loved ones or partners.”
According to Hull, the purpose of the $10-pay is to give people incentive, especially since many people tend to ignore the healthcare system. He also said that a lot of people are totally unaware of their HIV status.
“It’s taking some of the lessons that have been learned in economics and other fields of interventions and seeing what small nudges we can do to help encourage people to engage in care and look at their HIV status,” said Hull, who said that paying people $10 each to get tested and treated is worth it. He explained that once an HIV-infected person gets admitted to the hospital or falls out of work due to the disease, the cost loss is usually far bigger.