Prevalence of Voluntary Counseling and Testing Utilization and Its Associated Factors Among Merawi Preparatory School Students in Merawi Town, West Gojjam, Ethiopia

PURPOSE: HIV/AIDS is a major public health problem in many parts of the world. Voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) is one of the essential strategies for its prevention and an entry point to AIDS care. Nevertheless, utilization of VCT is low in Ethiopia. Hence, the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of VCT utilization and associated factors among Merawi preparatory school students, West Gojjam, Ethiopia. METHODS: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2 to 20, 2019 using a stratified random sampling method to enroll 365 participants. Data were collected using pretested structured self-administered questionnaires, entered into EpiData version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. A logistic regression was used to determine an association between a number of independent variables and dependent variables. Adjusted odds ratios were calculated at 95% CI and considered significant with a p value of ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: The mean age of participants was 20.2 ± 2.6 years and more than half (52.6%) of the respondents were male. From the study participants, 77.5% had good knowledge of VCT, 75% had a positive attitude towards VCT for HIV and 31.5% had undergone VCT for HIV. According to the multivariable logistic regression, having a boyfriend or girlfriend (AOR = 10.49; 95% CI: 5.48, 20.09), discussing with parents about HIV (AOR = 3.63; 95% CI: 1.97, 6.68), good knowledge (AOR: 3.9; 95% CI: 1.80, 8.46) and positive attitude (AOR: 3.14; 95% CI:1.45, 6.82) were significantly associated with VCT utilization. CONCLUSION: The majority of the respondents had good knowledge and a positive attitude towards VCT; however, its utilization was low. Having a boyfriend or girlfriend, discussion with parents about HIV, good knowledge and positive attitude towards VCT were significantly associated with VCT utilization. Therefore, a health education program aimed at bringing behavioral change should be planned and implemented.