Comment Why young people don't go for HIV testThe recent controversy surrounding voluntary counselling and testing services raised serious questions. It focused on the quality of tests, the logistics and guidelines for VCT service delivery. While some of the criticisms may not hold much water, they may act as a deterrent to those interested in seeking such services. VCT is the situation where a person makes a deliberate effort to establish his or her HIV status. The increasing demand for VCT services can be attributed to several factors. First, individuals have a right to know their sero-status to protect themselves and others from infection. Secondly, early detection may help individuals to gain support and treatment for opportunistic infections associated with HIV/Aids. This programme has become a major component of an expanded response to the pandemic. Early testing offers many benefits to young people. But it is still rare in many countries. In Kenya, VCT centres are situated mainly in urban and peri-urban areas. But there are plans to open 300 more all over the country. As the scourge spreads, young people are becoming exposed to infections at an increasingly tender age. As men continue choosing younger sexual partners, the infection rate keeps going up, so that, as each new generation reaches the reproductive age, another wave of infections looms large. The HIV/Aids prevalence is higher among girls than boys. Indeed, the ratio is 1:6 in certain parts of the country. Young people's ability to deal with these negative consequences of adolescent sexuality is severely constrained by inadequate information and poor access to education and health services. VCT can result in reducing risk-taking tendencies and promote behaviour change. However, despite the widely acknowledged benefits, there may be negative implications because HIV-positive people suffer from stigmatisation and discrimination. Where services are still poor and comprehensive treatment programmes lacking, people may feel the risks of knowing and disclosing their sero-status to outweigh the benefits. The lack of clear linkages between VCT, treatment and care also acts as a deterrent. Many people, including the young, do not seek VCT services until they develop Aids symptoms. Men and women seek the services for different reasons � men to reassure themselves and their partners that they are not infected, and women if they suspect they may be infected. However, the reasons young people may not seek VCT services include lack of information, delusions that they are not at risk, lack of privacy and confidentiality, costs and the law that requires parental consent. What emerged from a study carried out early this year is that most young people know about VCT, which confirms findings from other studies that knowledge about HIV/Aids is now almost universal. The quality of this knowledge is, however, questionable. The study also looked at attitudes to VCT and young people were expected to say whether they would use the services. Six out of 10 said they were comfortable with using the services. Yet only five out of 10 said they would actually go for testing. Most young people reported discussing HIV/Aids and VCT with their families and relatives. This implies that VCT and HIV/Aids in general may be forming much of the daily discussions in their lives. However, most of them do not think their parents know enough. This reflects the findings from other studies, that parents are not an important source of information and are sometimes a major barrier to adolescent access to both information and services. On sources VCT information, young people overwhelmingly indicated their current and preferred sources of information as TV and radio. The results further showed that many believe the best way to pass VCT information on is through these electronic media. This has obvious implications for young people in school. Currently, information on VCT is on billboards along highways mainly in urban and peri-urban areas. In future, this communication should be in those radio and TV channels popular with young people. Compared with older adolescents, those below 16 are less likely to go for VCT services. Those who had never discussed VCT issues were also not likely to go for the services. Most VCT centres are currently located at public health institutions. Yet young people are not particularly interested in Government facilities as sources of VCT information. There is a general lack of confidence in the services provided in public health institutions. This has clearly been extended to VCT services. Plans to build VCT centres across the country must take this into consideration. It is expected that increased awareness and knowledge of HIV status may lead to behaviour change. The majority of students believe that having information on Aids influences their behaviour positively. Nearly seven out of 10 reported that knowledge may have led them to choose the most appropriate method of avoiding risk. About half indicated they were more inclined to abstain from sex, while some reported practising safe sex. Comments\Views about this article |
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