HIV counselling and testing utilisation and attitudes of male inmates in a South African prison

Abstract

The Department of Correctional Services Policy on the management of HIV and AIDS for offenders include voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) for HIV as one of the priorities in the rehabilitation of inmates. The aim of this study was to determine factors associated with the utilisation of VCT services in the correctional centres in terms of level of satisfaction, their experiences and expectations, and motivating factors and barriers for VCT utilisation at Losperfontein Correctional Centre, South Africa. This was a case control study (cases being those who underwent testing and controls those who did not) examining predictors of HIV VCT utilisation among 200 male adult sentenced inmates serving medium and maximum sentences. Results indicate that a poor health system (OR=0.34, 95%CI: 0.23 – 0.50) was inversely associated with HIV testing acceptance in prison, while age, educational level, population group, marital status, length of incarceration and access to HIV testing in prison were not associated with HIV testing acceptance in prison. Half of the participants (50%) agreed that VCT services are accessible and are promoted at their correctional centre. Most were satisfied with different components of VCT services, ranging from 79% (fair to very good) for ‘the way he/she received you’ to 62% ‘clarified all your concerns’. This study demonstrated some challenges and benefits to the field of health promotion and HIV prevention in the correctional centres especially with regard to VCT services.

Determinants of Voluntary Counseling and Testing Service Uptake Among Adult Sub-Saharan Africans: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Nonetheless, proper design of VCT centers to ensure privacy is strongly recommended. Health care provides should also be equipped with professional counseling skills, and should offer efficient counseling that would encourage people to opt for VCT services [43]. In addition, community VCT advocacy and anti-HIV stigma campaigns needs to be strengthened and expanded in SSA [7,26,[44][45][46].…”

“…In addition, community VCT advocacy and anti-HIV stigma campaigns needs to be strengthened and expanded in SSA [7,26,[44][45][46]. Furthermore, the formulation of policies and programs to address gender-inequity and confidentiality of HIV test results might enhance VCT service uptake in SSA [4,43,47,48].…”

HIV prevalence and the cascade of care in five South African correctional facilities

“…While HCT uptake varies widely between demographic groups in sub-Saharan African countries, home-based HCT programs in South Africa and elsewhere in the region have attained uptake as high as 98% [ 20 , 21 , 22 ]. HIV-related stigma is a known barrier to HCT uptake in South Africa [ 23 , 24 ], but during this screening campaign over half of all eligible inmates opted to partake in HCT (57.4%).…”

Comprehensive AIDS prevention programs in prisons: A review study

“…It was effective in changing positively their knowledge of AIDS, self-efficacy related to highly risky behaviors associated with this disease, and also their readiness to change. 22…”