Background
HIV testing and counseling (HTC) is an important strategy in HIV and AIDS prevention and
control in Kenya. The prevalence of testing in Kenya remains low among adults as reported in
KAIS 2007 and also in KDHS 2008/9.
Objectives
This study set out to determine HTC prevalence and testing barriers among young people aged
18-24 years in Nyeri Municipality, Central Kenya.
Design
A cross sectional study was conducted using cluster sampling technique. A total of 600 young
people were sampled in 30 clusters randomly chosen using probability proportionate to the
number of households in each sub location. Data were collected using an interviewer
administered questionnaire, during the month of August 2011. Data collected was on HIV
Testing and Counseling, HIV and AIDS knowledge and attitude, and youths’ perception of HCW
attitude. All ethical considerations were respected by ensuring voluntary participation with
written consent and upholding of utmost confidentiality.
Results
The study found near universal HIV and AIDS awareness (99.8%) and a similar level of HTC
awareness (99.6%) with 95.8% of the respondents acknowledging that the disease was a serious
threat to young people in the community. Nearly all (98.5%) knew of a place where they could
access testing and 62% of them thought they were at risk of infection. The mean HIV and AIDS
knowledge score was 82.8% and was influenced by education level (p<0.001) and age (p=
0.015). The mean HIV and AIDS attitude score was 71.7% and was influenced by education
XVI
level (p<0.001). Young people’s perception of counsellors’ attitude mean score was 47.7% and
was significantly related to education level (p=0.0047). The study found self reported HIV
testing prevalence of 69.2% (CI 65.4%-72.8%) with nearly all those tested reporting they
received their results. Their main sources of HIV testing and counselling information were
schools (23.8%) followed by health workers (16.7%) and churches (15.2%). The most popular
testing places were public health facilities for over 53% of tested youths.
Respondents advanced many reasons for never having taken a test; 34.6% thought they were not
at risk, 20% had no reason, 18.4% were held back by fear, 14.6% had never been offered a test,
9.7% said they were too young. The rest, less than 3%, of the respondents either did not know
about the test, where to get tested, or did not see the need because their partners had tested
negative.
Conclusion
The study showed that HIV testing is significantly related to age (p<0.001), sex (p<0.001),
marital status (p<0.001), occupation (p=0.001) and young people’s perception of counsellors’
attitude (p<0.001). The study recommends training and retraining of HTC counselors to enable
them provide youth friendly services to improve uptake of HTC by young people.