Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) is one of the measures used in the fight of HIV and
AIDS in Malawi. WHO/UNAIDS/UNICEF (2011) estimated that about 440,000 to 510,000
people living with HIV and AIDS in Malawi were not getting treatment. This could be the
case because they did not know their HIV status. Knowing the factors that lead people to
seek Voluntary Counseling and Testing services in Malawi could demystify this. This study
therefore investigated the determinants of Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV and
AIDS among men and women in Malawi. The principal research focus was on the socioeconomic
and socio-demographic factors that determine one’s need to demand VCT services.
A logistic regression model was used due to the categorical nature of the dependent variable
i.e. whether one was tested or not. Among women, the variables age, residence, education,
marital status, employment, mode of employment and lifetime number of sexual partners
were found to be significant factors influencing the uptake of VCT. With the lower class as
the reference variable, the ‘rich group’ was found to significantly influence the uptake of VCT
but not the middle class. On the men’s side, the variables age, education, region of residence,
lifetime number of sexual partners, marital status, wealth status and employment were found
to have a significant influence on VCT uptake. The results also show that a man’s place of
residence and mode of employment do not affect VCT uptake. In summary, the findings show
that for both men and women the variables; age, education and lifetime number of sexual
partners were significant. The variables; residence and mode of employment were significant
only for women while the variable region of residence was only significant for men. The
variable wealth status had the rich group being significant among both men and women while
middle group was insignificant among both men and women. The variables marital status and
employment were significant at all levels for women while for men they had at least one
variable not significant. The variable religion was insignificant for both women and men
except one variable – other religion affiliation, which was significant among men