Knowledge, Attitude, Practice of the Kamina City Population in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Voluntary Screening of HIV/Aids

Abstract

HIV/AIDS infection, although of particular gravity in developing countries, today affects all countries of the world. Among the means used to combat this pathology is voluntary testing, which is both an effective and economical strategy for facilitating behavior change. This study allowed us to contribute to the improvement of the knowledge, attitude and practice of the population on voluntary HIV/AIDS testing. This is a cross-sectional study of the knowledge, attitude and practice of the Kamina population on voluntary testing for HIV infection. A total of 384 people from 82 Ward in Kamina was interviewed using a pre-established questionnaire. Ninety-six respondents (25%) said they knew about voluntary testing; Of these, 79% or 82.3% thought knowing their HIV status was the only benefit of voluntary testing. The level of knowledge about voluntary testing appears to be low among the population studied; there are still misunderstandings about the benefits of voluntary testing and the means of prevention. This result could be used as reference data in the revitalization of a voluntary testing center and the protection of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) in our environment.