Featured news from NHIVNA
HIV-related news from NAM
Quality of health services is key in encouraging or discouraging people from HIV testing in Africa
Roger Pebody, 2013-03-26 06:40:00
The uptake of HIV testing in sub-Saharan Africa is influenced by the quality and manner in which health services are delivered, according to a review of 42 qualitative studies, published this month in BMC Public Health. Perceived problems with confidentiality, staff attitudes and long waiting times discouraged many people from testing, whereas trusted and more convenient facilities – and local availability of antiretroviral therapy – encouraged individuals to take an HIV test.
Moreover, the “availability and convenience of provider-initiated HIV testing provides that extra ‘push’ that enables individuals to overcome barriers,” the authors write. They call for stepping up provider-initiated HIV testing, especially when individuals are being screened for other, less stigmatising, conditions.
Their review also sheds light on numerous individual and relationship factors that encourage or discourage people from taking an HIV test.
On average, only four-in-ten African people living with HIV have been diagnosed. A number of quantitative and qualitative studies have looked into the reasons why, but systematic reviews are lacking.
Maurice Musheke and colleagues used an approach known as ‘meta-ethnography’ to synthesise the results of 42 different qualitative studies conducted in 13 African countries, published between 2001 and 2012. The researchers were looking specifically for research on the factors influencing access to and uptake of HIV testing.
They say that despite the diversity of settings in sub-Saharan Africa, their findings suggest that many of the barriers and facilitators of HIV testing are similar across the region.
Source:1
