HIV testing is a critical gateway to treatment care and support services. Knowledge of HIV
status can empower individuals and couples to take measures to prevent HIV acquisition or
onward transmission. For those already infected, a positive result is necessary to access
treatment and, in the case of pregnant mothers, to access prevention of mother to child
transmission (PMTCT) services. [2]
Across communities normalizing awareness of HIV status through increasing testing could
reduce HIV related stigma and discrimination. (WHO,2003). Population based surveys with
HIV testing provide national level prevalence estimates and the opportunity to link HIV
status with behavioral, social and other biological information.
The 2012 Kenya aids indicator survey (Kais,2012), provides comprehensive information on
trends in HIV infection ,behaviors that place persons at risk for HIV infection ,knowledge
and attitudes around HIV aids , and population based coverage of HIV prevention, care and
treatment programs to understand the status of the HIV epidemic . And impact of the natural
response.
This study assessed of HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitude and its influence on the uptake of
HIV testing among adults in Kenya. In addition the study looked at the socio-demographic
factors and their contribution the uptake of HIV. A sample of 12,066 adults aged between 18-
65 years were included in the study. Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey (KAIS, 2012) was
utilized, which is a nationally representative population-based survey. Systematic review of
literature from (KAIS 2012) on HIV knowledge, attitude and uptake of HIV test among
adults where available were extracted. Data was also extracted for demographic
characteristics. Extracted data was entered in excel and analyzed using Stata version 13.
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Descriptive statistics was performed to determine the characteristics of the participants and
univariate and multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the factors influence the
uptake of HIV tests. On univariate analysis, results revealed significant association of
knowledge, attitude, gender, level of education, socio-economic factors with ever testing for
HIV.