Perception of HIV testing among attendees at an STD clinic in India

Abstract

This study reports perception of STD clinic attendees of Government General hospital, Chennai, India towards free HIV testing. All STD clinic attendees who were eligible for the study (511), from January to April 2001 formed the study subjects. In all, 362 (71%) subjects responded to the question on perception of risk in getting HIV/AIDS. Among them 36% perceived that they were at risk of getting infected with HIV. There was a significant difference (P=0.01) between the genders, as more males perceived risk of getting HIV than females and, with the increase in number of sexual partners in a lifetime there was an increasing trend (p<0.0001) in the perception of risk. There were 244 (55%) subjects willing for HIV testing. A significant difference between the genders (p<0.0001) was observed, as more females were willing to accept free HIV testing than males. When adjusting the effect of co-variates such as gender, age, marital status and perception of risk in getting HIV, persons having two or more sexual partners in their life time were four times more willing to be HIV tested than persons with one sexual partner (OR=4; p=0.001). The findings in this study will help optimize HIV testing in at risk patient populations in India.