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This was the world’s first Social Impact Bond (SIB) focused on bringing people living with HIV into care.

Coming together to run this Zero HIV SIB were The Foundation, Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham Councils, The National Lottery Community Fund, ViiV Healthcare, Comic Relief, and Big Issue.

The south London boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark, and Lewisham boroughs were chosen because of their very high HIV prevalence – an estimated 1,000 residents here are living with HIV and unaware of their status.

In hospital Emergency Departments, HIV clinics, GP surgeries, and in the community, providers earned outcome-based payments each time they identified someone either newly diagnosed with HIV, or who had stopped treatment, and linked them back into care.

Real results

Over three years (2018 – 2021), more than 265,000 people received HIV testing and more than 460 south Londoners living with HIV entered treatment. More than 200 people received a new diagnosis of HIV and attended their first treatment and over 250 others who had stopped treatment returned to care.

How it worked

This initiative has saved an estimated £90 million in costs to the health system, because getting people into treatment early is much more effective – £200,000 of costs are avoided each time a person living with HIV is engaged into care.

Importantly, many of the people tested were from communities who wouldn’t have received HIV testing if not through this project, and the Emergency Departments and primary care HIV testing interventions were particularly strong in identifying Black African, Black Caribbean and Black Other women and girls living with HIV who wouldn’t have been tested elsewhere.

Proving what works

Sharing the results of this project is a key part of making sure it has the biggest possible impact. Through conference and webinar presentations, it can inspire more work that brings people into the care they need.
Evidence from this SIB has informed the HIV Commission, the APPG HIV/AIDS Inquiries on HIV testing and the impact of HIV on Black and minority ethnic communities, and the HIV Action Plan, which in December 2021 announced £20m of funding for Emergency Department HIV testing in areas of very high HIV incidence.

We’re very grateful to all of our partners in this work, including the clinicians, operational staff, and healthcare advisors.

A special thank you to the legal team at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer who, through their pro bono work, have made all partnership and provider agreements possible.

Read our HIV Social Impact Bond brochure

 

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