Formative Research for the Establishment of HIV Voluntary Counselling and Testing Services in Kintampo District, Ghana
Date
2004-09
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Ghana
Abstract
A cornerstone of HIV prevention is voluntary HIV counselling and testing (VCT). There
are 24 VCT sites in Ghana; Kintampo district has none. Fewer than 10% of people living
with HIV/AIDS in Ghana are aware of their sero-status, due to limited availability and
limited use of VCT. The District Health Administration Kintampo district has expressed
interest in the establishment of VCT services. They therefore asked for infonnation for
consideration in planning and establishment of the VCT service to ensure patronage.
Objective: This study examined the community and health workers perceptions, attitudes
and knowledge of HIV /AIDS and HIV voluntary counseling, testing and related
services: in order to asses their willingness and readiness for VCT services with a view of
recommending a workable VCT in Kintampo District .
Design: A total of300 people participated in the study.Of these, 160 participated in focus
group discussions and in depth interviews the rest participated in the quantitative
component of the study. Qualitative study elicited information that was used to refine the
questionnaire for cross sectional survey and to elicit reasons for the various responses so
as to complement quantitative study.
Results: HIV/AIDS is perceived by health workers as a public health problem in
Kintampo district but a different perception applies to community members. Respondents
identified principal modes of HIV transmission as: having multiple sexual partners
(70.7%),having unprotected sexual intercourse with an infected person (57.9%) and use
of un-sterilized sharp instruments (81.4%),only 15.7% and 7.9% identified transfusion of
unscreened blood and mother to child transmission of HIV respectively. Eighty three
percent of the respondents recognize medical testing as the sure way of knowing ones
sero-status_ Fifty three percent of the respondents have heard of VCT and ninety percent
of the respondents expressed willingness to test. Most of the respondents indicated that
services should be offered by health workers of both sexes. Sixty five percent of the
respondents expressed stigmatizing attitudes to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWAS).
There were a number of factors identified as influencing the willingness to accessing
YCT services these include: societal attitude and stigma, perceived consequences of a test
result, cost or VCT. physical accessibility of VCT, awareness, perceived risk of HIV
infection. need for linking VCT with care and perceived quality of provision of VCT
services including issues of privacy and confidentiality. Kintampo district hospital was
identified as a suitable site for starting up VCT services on a pilot basis.
Conclusions and Recommendation: From the findings it is recommended that
community, education on HIV and VCT should be strengthened. There is need to
establish a VCT programme preferably in the hospital and at affordable cost. The aim
should be to provide high quality VCT services and this should be linked with care and
support services and finally positive consequences of VCT should be emphasized.
Description
MA. Public Health
Keywords
HIV/AIDS, Counselling and Testing Services, VCT, Kintampo District, Ghana, Transmission