Marseille 2007
| Abstract #539 - Reasons for volunteer presentation for HIV counseling and testing Sri Lankan experience | ||||
|
Session: 26.80: Posters B (Poster) on Tuesday in Chaired by Authors: Presenting Author: Dr Hemantha Wickramatillake - USAID/AED, Sri Lanka |
||||
| Additional Authors: Ms Asankthi Fernando, | ||||
| Aim: Sri Lanka, based on statistics, still boasts of being a country with low transmission and prevalence of HIV/AIDS. One of the reasons for lesser numbers observed in Sri Lanka could, well, be due to only a few persons presenting themselves for testing. Thus, the objective was to identify reasons so that those groups could be promoted to test HIV status. | ||||
| Method / Issue: The study was conducted in a HIV testing clinic in Colombo. Records of over 400 persons requesting for Volunteer Counseling and Testing (VCT) were analyzed. | ||||
| Results / Comments: 93% of the study population were males of which 75% presented with a history of having had sexual encounters with more than one woman. Although some had sexual intercourse with the same partner, sudden suspicious nature of the sexual behavior of the partner prompted them to seek VCT. Of the females two of them had a regular extra marital sexual partner. Of the male heterosexual encounters, 12% had encounters with commercial sex workers and some had casual encounters with foreign women. | ||||
| Discussion: These results, and of other ongoing studies and findings from projects, will help in identifying target groups for awareness programs and to promote VCT programs. | ||||
| Go Back | ||||
