• J N Mangeni, J B Ballidawa, and S Ndege.
• Global Network, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital Eldoret, Kenya. nakholi2001@yahoo.com
• East Afr J Public Health. 2012 Mar 1;9(1):44-9.

ObjectiveAlthough Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) has existed for more than 10 years, majority of Kenyans still do not know their HIV status, thus necessitating the introduction of other testing strategies to increase the number of people taking the test. The routine offer of an HIV test to all patients in health-care settings has been proposed to increase access to care. The main objective of this study was to identify factors associated with willingness to accept a routine offer of an HIV test.MethodsThis was a cross sectional study. The Setting was in the Outpatient department at a large Referral Hospital in Western Kenya. A total of 384 adult patients (both males and females) were recruited using systematic random sampling. Information was collected on basic socio demographic characteristics, knowledge about the routine offer of an HIV test, attitudes towards the testing and HIV testing practise.ResultsOf the 384 respondents, 64.3% were unaware about the routine offer of HIV testing in Health facilities. Multivariate analysis identified the main predictors of willingness to accept an HIV test offered in hospital as the age (OR 3.7, C.I 0.068-1.075), level of education (OR 3.4, C.I 0.186-62.602), Knowledge about the routine HIV testing (OR 4.6,C.I 2.118-9.847), self-perception of HIV risk (OR 8.4,C.I 3.424-20.496) and attitude towards routine offer of HIV testing (OR 9.2, C.I 0.042-0.284).ConclusionThere is a need to come up with tailored training on the routine offer of an HIV test and devising strategies to address the main factors that influence the decision for patients to test as identified above.

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