Influential factors and barriers to opt for the uptake of HIV testing among the adult population at HIV-care admission in an area in the DR Congo: What can we learn?

Introduction: To reverse the trends of the acquired immune deficiency syn-drome (AIDS) epidemic, reinforcement of personal protection and antiretroviral treat-ment (ART) initiation at right time are needed. The aim of the study was, a decade af-ter expanding AIDS medical care, to explore facilitating factors or those contributing to uptake or delay of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing among individuals who access voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) in an urban area of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Material and methods: A cross-sectional survey carried out among individu-als attending three VCT centres in Kinshasa, DRC.

Results: A total of 388 individuals with mean age 42 (9.4) years were includ-ed. Among them 34% were married, and 96% were living at home. Morbid and social events were the most important reasons cited for uptake of HIV testing in urban are-as. Among the most common barriers of the HIV testing observed, stigma was the first reason significantly prevalent cited among man while fear to know the HIV status, ignorance of seropositivity concepts and the existence of VCT screening were prevalent among females.

Conclusions: Two main events influencing the uptake of HIV testing and commonly known barriers to this were cited. These results generate questions about a fringe of the population, and call for further research for improved prevention poli-cy.