JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The distinctive aspects of voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) for HIV/AIDS include pre- and post-test counseling, as well as the development of a risk reduction plan. As secondary school students are part of the adolescent age group, they are particularly susceptible to HIV infection.

Objective:

The objective of this study was to investigate the knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes regarding voluntary counselling and testing for HIV/AIDS among secondary school students in the Iringa rural district.

Methods:

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the Iringa rural district. Randomly selected secondary schools participated in the study. Data management and analysis were performed using Epi7 software. Only students who voluntarily chose to participate completed self-administered questionnaires.

Results:

A total of 127 students from three secondary schools aged 15-25 years were enrolled in the study. Out of the 127 students, 69 (54.3%) and 58 (45.67%) students were females and males respectively. All the 127students were aware about VCT services. The primary sources of information, that involved describing whether have heard of VCT or not it was revealed that the source of information were schools, accounting for 92(33.33%) of the participants. Radios/TV were the second common source, with 65 (23.55%) of participants obtaining information from this medium. Friends/family were another significant source, with 46(16.67%) of participants relying on them. Our study found that the proportion of knowledge about VCT services increased with increase in level of education as the proportion from form II, III, and IV were 8(6.61%), 46(38.02%) and 67(55.37%) respectively. The majority of students who were aware of Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) for HIV/AIDS understood that the primary purpose of VCT is to determine one's HIV status which involved 88(50.58%) of students while 58 (33.33%) students knew that VCT services help people to prevent HIV infection, and 28(16.09%) students responded that VCT services prepare an individual to accept HIV test results. Negative attitudes towards readiness to have HIV test also was found to increase with increase in age, 26(60.47%) students with the age range (17-18 years) strongly disagreed to be know their HIV status among their secondary school students. Acceptability towards HIV test for secondary students revealed 65 (51.18%) students reasoned that it’s compulsory to know their HIV status. Proportion of secondary students towards VCT services for HIV/AIDS revealed that most of secondary students 86(54.43%) would tell their parents or close friends and to change their behaviors after HIV test. The barriers identified were social discrimination and stigmatization as more than (50.57%) students expressed concerns that those who tested positive for HIV could face discrimination from their community members, compounded by lack of confidentiality among health care providers, low number of health care providers and low count of infrastructures for VCT services

Conclusions:

Despite having a high level of knowledge about VCT services, the secondary school students showed low utilization towards VCT services. The main factors influencing low utilization were fear of HIV test results, knowledge and attitude towards VCT services, age, education level, engagement in sexual relationships, and stigmatization. The study highlights the importance of raising awareness about stigma and discrimination as they significantly impact the uptake of VCT. Additionally, efforts should focus on enhancing knowledge about VCT among individuals in rural areas. It is also crucial to expand the availability of VCT facilities and provide training for counselors to improve the utilization of these services.