Determinants of HIV testing among young women in rural Uganda: analysis of the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey

Abstract

Voluntary HIV testing and counseling services is an important determinant of HIV/ AIDS prevention and care strategies. Over the years, HIV testing and counseling services coverage has greatly improved. However, a substantial number of young people in resource limited settings have never tested and therefore unaware of their HIV status. The study used secondary. Data from the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey data set. A total of 18506 respondents were interviewed from which a sample of 5908 young women were obtained. Data was analysed using stata version 14 . study results indicated that the biggest proportion of respondents that had ever tested for HIV were of higher education (93.7%) , married (93.2%) , listened to radio at least once a week (75.7%) and had sex above 17 years( 91.9%). Findings from the study revealed that education level, marital status, listening to radio and age at first sex significantly influenced HIV testing among young women in rural Uganda with the measure of significance p< 0.05. The study recommends that the government increase opportunities for girls to pursue higher learning. A move by government and development partners away from the traditional way of disseminating and promoting HIV testing awareness campaigns that is traditional ICE’S to social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram as majority of young people are on such platforms and they play a big part in influencing their life choices, decisions and attitudes.