Barriers to HIV Testing in Côte d'Ivoire: The Role of Individual Characteristics and Testing Modalities
Author(s)
Jean, K
Anglaret, X
Moh, R
Lert, F
Dray-Spira, R
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Expanding HIV testing requires a better understanding of barriers to its uptake. We investigated barriers to HIV testing in Côte d'Ivoire, taking into account test circumstances (client vs. provider-initiated). METHODS: We used data from the 2005 nationally representative Demographic and Health Survey conducted in Côte d'Ivoire. Socio-demographic characteristics, sexual behaviour and knowledge and attitudes toward HIV/AIDS associated with recent (<2 years) HIV testing were identified using gender-specific univariate and multivariate logistic regressions. Among women, differential effects of barriers to testing according to test circumstance (whether they have been offered for a prenatal test or not) were assessed through interaction tests. RESULTS: Recent HIV testing was reported by 6.1% of men and 9.5% of women (including 4.6% as part of antenatal care). Among men, having a low socioeconomic status, having a low HIV-related knowledge level and being employed [compared to those inactive: adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR) 0.46; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.25-0.87] were associated with lower proportions of recent HIV testing. Among women without a prenatal HIV testing offer, living outside the capital (aOR 0.38; CI 0.19-0.77) and reporting a unique lifetime sexual partner constituted additional barriers to HIV testing. By contrast, among women recently offered to be tested in prenatal care, none of these variables was found to be associated with recent HIV testing. CONCLUSIONS: Various dimensions of individuals' characteristics constituted significant barriers to HIV testing in Côte d'Ivoire in 2005, with gender specificities. Such barriers are substantially reduced when testing was proposed in the framework of antenatal care. This suggests that provider-initiated testing strategies may help overcome individual barriers to HIV testing.
Date Issued
2012-07-18
Date Acceptance
2012-06-20
Citation
PLOS One, 2012, 7 (7)
ISSN
1932-6203
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Journal / Book Title
PLOS One
Volume
7
Issue
7
Copyright Statement
© 2012 Jean et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
License URL
Subjects
AIDS Serodiagnosis
Adolescent
Adult
Attitude to Health
Communicable Disease Control
Cote d'Ivoire
Female
HIV Infections
Health Services Accessibility
Humans
Male
Mass Screening
Middle Aged
Multivariate Analysis
Odds Ratio
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Complications, Infectious
Regression Analysis
Sex Factors
Social Class
General Science & Technology
MD Multidisciplinary
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e41353