title: Acceptance of routine testing for HIV among adult patients at the medical emergency unit at a national referral hospital in Kampala, Uganda.
abstract: HIV testing is an entry point to comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention and care. In Uganda, Routine Testing and Counseling for HIV (RTC) is not widely offered as part of standard medical care in acute care settings. This study determined the acceptance of RTC in a medical emergency setting at Mulago national referral hospital. We interviewed 233 adult patients who were offered HIV testing. Overall, 83% were unaware of their HIV serostatus and 88% of these had been to a health unit in the previous six months. Of the 208 eligible for HIV testing, 95% accepted to test. Half the patients were HIV infected and 77% of these were diagnosed during the study. HIV testing was highly acceptable and detected a significant number of undiagnosed HIV infections. We recommend adoption of RTC as standard of care in the medical emergency unit in order to scale HIV diagnosis and linkage to HIV/AIDS care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Makerere University Kampala, P.O. Box 25308, Kampala, Uganda. drdamalie@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Damalie
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nakanjako
authors.forename: Moses
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kamya
authors.forename: Kyabayinze
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Daniel
authors.forename: Harriet
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mayanja-Kizza
authors.forename: Jurgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Freers
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Whalen
authors.forename: Elly
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Katabira
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006783:Hospitals, State / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010507:Periodicity; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014454:Uganda / Q000453:epidemiology