Factors Influencing the Uptake of HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) Among Males in South Division, Fort Portal Municipality, Kabarole District.

Abstract

The study was conducted based on the general objective of this study to investigate the factors influencing uptake of HCT among males in south division of Fort Portal Municipality Kabarole district. The study involved a study sample of 290 male respondents who were interviewed about HCT. The specific objectives of the study were; to determine the prevalence of HCT among males in south Division Fort Portal Municipality; to assess the knowledge of males towards HCT in south division Fort Portal Municipality; to identify the attitude of males towards HCT in south division Fort Portal municipality; and to identify the individual factors influencing the uptake of HCT among males in south division Fort Portal Municipality A Cross-sectional survey was particularly adopted to collect data and in this case the researcher used semi-structured questionnaires to extract information from the 290 respondents obtained by random sampling. Data analysis was made using a computer soft ware package known as SPSS where the researcher started with coding (assigning special codes to the respondents for easy analysis. The respondents‟ views were presented in form of frequency tables and graphs. The major findings of the study were; prevalence of 64.8% of men who had used the service in different health centre around South division, 73.8% of the men who tested for HIV collected their results, whilst 26.2% do not collect, at least 70.7% of the total population under study are aware of HCT, 72.8% of men have a negative attitude towards HCT, 62.4% believe that HCT is an individual‟s decision, whilst 37.6% think it is not an individual‟s decision but a collective role The study concluded that if HIV counseling and testing (HCT) is considered as one of the key strategies in the prevention and control of HIV and AIDS, the prevalence of HIV infection will decrease with the increased level of HCT service uptake. Men‟s negative attitude towards HCT is a key factor in influencing the low level of HCT service uptake. The study recommended that Community sensitization through health education to the general public as a way of creating awareness, improvement in the health facilities to avail the services to the local community should be among the core health strategies by the policy makers.