Prevalence and factors associated with self-reported HIV testing among adolescent girls and young women in Rwanda : evidence from 2019/20 Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey
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Prevalence and factors associated with self-reported HIV testing among adolescent girls and young women in Rwanda : evidence from 2019/20 Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey
BACKGROUND : HIV/AIDS remains a major public health problem globally. The majority of people living with HIV are
from Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) aged 15-24 years. HIV testing is
crucial as it is the gateway to HIV prevention, treatment, and care; therefore this study determined the prevalence and
factors associated with self-reported HIV testing among AGYW in Rwanda.
METHODS : We conducted secondary data analysis on the AGYW using data extracted from the nationally representative
population-based 2019/2020 cross-sectional Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). We described the
characteristics of study participants and determined the prevalence of HIV testing and associated factors using the
multivariable logistic regression model. We adjusted all our analyses for unequal sampling probabilities using survey
weights.
RESULTS : There were a total of 5,732 AGYW, with the majority (57%) aged 15-19 years, 83% were not living with a man,
80% were from rural areas, 29% were from the East region, and 20% had a history of pregnancy. Self-reported HIV
testing prevalence was 55.4% (95%CI: 53.7 to 57.0%). The odds of ever having an HIV test were significantly higher for
those aged 20-24 years (aOR 2.87, 95%CI: 2.44 to 3.37); with higher education (aOR 2.41, 95%CI:1.48 to 3.93); who were
rich (aOR 2.06, 95%CI:1.57 to 2.70); with access to at least one media (aOR 1.64, 95%CI: 1.14 to 2.37); who had ever
been pregnant (aOR 16.12, 95%CI: 9.60 to 27.07); who ever had sex (aOR 2.40, 95%CI: 1.96 to 2.95); and those who had
comprehensive HIV knowledge (aOR 1.34, 95%CI: 1.17 to 1.54).
CONCLUSIONS : We report an unmet need for HIV testing among AGYW in Rwanda. We recommend a combination
of strategies to optimize access to HIV testing services, especially among the 15-19 years adolescent girls, including facility-based testing, school and community outreach, awareness campaigns on HIV testing, and home-based testing
through HIV self-testing.
Description:
AVAILABILITY OF DATA AND MATERIALS : The dataset generated and analysed during the current study are not publicly
available since we received a data access letter from the DHS team https://dhsprogram.com/ specifc to our project but are available from the DHS team
upon request.