Abstract:
Background: Globally, HIV/AIDS is killing millions of people, and the epidemic is
continuing to become a major public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa. The main
justification for routine PITC is to increase the number of patients tested and thus the
number of HIV-infected patients identified and linked to medical care and support
services. Most people do not know whether they are HIV positive for a variety of
reasons. However, PITC refusal rate tends to be high in OPD setting compared to other
clinical service delivery areas.
Objective: To assess determinants for refusal of PITC among clients attending adult
OPD services in Public health facility of Woliso town, South West Shoa Zone, Oromia,
Ethiopia, 2023
Methods: Facility based unmatched case control study supplemented by qualitative
study was conducted from April 20 to May 20, 2023. A total of 396 clients were
participated from two hospitals and two health centers. Data were collected using
interviewer-administered structured questionnaire and entered into Epi-Info version 7.2,
then exported to SPSS version 25 for processing and analysis. Descriptive statistics was
used to describe the participant‟s characteristics. Binary & multiple logistic regressions
were used to assess the association between dependent & independent variables. The
magnitude of association between dependent & independent variables were measured
by odds ratios along with 95% confidence interval. Finally the significance of
association was declared by p-value < 0.05. The results were displayed by using text,
table and graph. Finally, model of fitness was checked by using Hosmer and
Lemeshow test goodness-of-fit. Qualitative part was done by FGD .
Results: In this study 396 clients (132 cases and 264 controls) were completed the
interview giving the response rate of 100%. Mass media (AOR7.8 (95%CI 4.70-12.12)),
information about PITC from health workers AOR= 4.7(95%CI (2.70-8.20)) , trust
sexual partner AOR=2.62(95%CI:(1.28-5.34)),previous test exprience (AOR=2.97(95%
CI: (1.62-5.46)), perceive the benefits of HIV test (AOR= 2.76(95% CI: 1.25-6.07))
were significantly associated with determinants for refusal of PITC.
Conclusion: Trust sexual partner, source of information about PITC from mass media
and health workers and not perceived risk of HIV were major barriers for PITC refusal
in our study.
