Determinants of the Uptake of Hiv Counselling and Testing Among Residents of Elele Community

ABSTRACT Rural populations record low rates of acceptance and uptake of the voluntary HIV testing and counseling due to certain socio-demographic and other related factors. This study seeks to identify these determinants in Elele community by assessing the determinants of the uptake of HIV counseling and testing among residents of Elele Community, Rivers State. Three specific objectives and research questions were formulated to guide the study. The study employed a descriptive survey design. The researcher made use of a self-designed questionnaire with closed-ended questions to collect data that was used for analysis in the study. The data obtained from the participants were processed and analyzed descriptively with the use of frequency, percentages and tables. Results revealed that all the respondents had heard of HIV/AIDs before; and 51.8% of the respondents knew that HIV counseling and testing referred to testing for HIV whenever but can refuse if you don’t want to. From the findings, about 84.7% of the respondents knew their HIV status while 61.2% agreed to being tested for their status at the time of the study and 92.9% agreed to provider initiated HIV/AIDS testing to be of great importance. The factors that influence the uptake of HIV testing and counseling among residents were shown to include knowledge of own HIV/AIDS status (83.9%), counsellors’ attitude (80.8%), level of awareness (86%), perception about people living with HIV/AIDS (74.7%), demographics such as age, gender, and location (79.8%), and fear of stigma (87%). There is a need to intensify family involvement in counselling and HIV testing as this has a major bearing on the uptake of HIV counselling and testing to eliminate fear of disclosure of results and family related stigma.   Keywords: determinants, uptake, HIV counseling, HIV testing, Elele community