_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding author: E-mail: goldenowhonda@yahoo.com; Advances in Research 23(5): 18-26, 2022; Article no.AIR.90724 ISSN: 2348-0394, NLM ID: 101666096 Impact of Waiving Out-of-Pocket Access Fees on HIV Testing and Linkage Services in Rivers State, Nigeria G. C. Owhonda a* , C. N. Eze-Emiri a,b , U. Edewor a , P. S. Dakum c , C. O. Mensah c and K. O. Olupitan c a Department of Public Health & Disease Control, Rivers State Ministry of Health, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. b Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. c Clinton Health Access Initiative, Nigeria. Authors’ contributions This work was carried out in collaboration among all authors. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Article Information DOI: 10.9734/AIR/2022/v23i530346 Open Peer Review History: This journal follows the Advanced Open Peer Review policy. Identity of the Reviewers, Editor(s) and additional Reviewers, peer review comments, different versions of the manuscript, comments of the editors, etc are available here: https://www.sdiarticle5.com/review-history/90724 Received 17 June 2022 Accepted 24 August 2022 Published 26 August 2022 ABSTRACT Introduction: The financial implications of accessing health services negatively impact end-users and result in the non-utilization of healthcare services in most resource-poor countries. Direct and indirect costs of access to HIV services impede the uptake and adherence to ART, thereby hindering viral suppression in these regions. Evidence showed that out-of-pocket user fee waivers effectively improve access to healthcare services and expand their utilization. The payment of out- of-pocket user fees to access HIV services in Rivers State affected linkage to ART and was consequently waived to increase uptake of HIV services. The study aimed to determine the waiver's impact on linkage to ART. Methods: descriptive trend study to determine the difference in linkage to ART services following the waiver of access fees using data collected from the HIV control program, Rivers State. Findings: There was a gradual increase in the Number of individuals who received HIV Testing Services (HTS) and received their test results (HTS_TST_POS) after the implementation of the user fee waiver, the total HTS_TST_POS during the study period was 157,525; with a mean (IQR) of Original Research Article