Analysing the Effectiveness of Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) in the Fight Against HIV/Aids Among the Youth. A Case Study of Mombasa District, Kenya

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ABSTRACT

HIV/Aids have been a major problem in Africa today especially in Kenya where over 3 million people mainly in the age brackets of 15-49 years are infected. Voluntary Counselling and Testing has been identified as an effective response to the pandemic. An individual can find out whether he is infected with HIV/Aids virus and therefore seek the best health strategies to adopt in order to make life more meaningful whether negative or positive.

The main objective of this study was to find out how the youth perceive their risk of HIV/Aids, determine whether the Voluntary Counselling process in the VCT centers affects the motivation of the youth for VCT services, find out if the counselor characteristics influences the youth responsiveness to VCT services and last but not least is to establish whether the location of VCT centers influences the attitudes of the youth to the VCT services.

This research was conducted in Mombasa district within the Coastal province of Kenya. The researcher used both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

A questionnaire as administered on 56 young respondents within the age bracket of 17-24 years. A focused group discussion was held with 6 VCT counselors, 1 geographical division which was island division.

The study captured both males and females, majority of them were single and unemployed. The respondents had heard about HIV/Aids from various sources such as radios, newspapers, parents and even mosques and churches. A large number of the youth admitted and had realized that HIV/Aids is real, dangerous and has caused and will continue to cause mass deaths yet quite a number of them were still involved in sexual relationships.

Majority of them considered themselves to be at no risk of HIV/Aids but only 9% of those interviewed admitted to be using condoms. Others were remaining faithful to their parents yet faithfulness can be violated bearing in mind that a small percentage of them were married. The study observed that the youth have heard about VCT centers and the services offered there. Many of them have been tested to know their HIV/Aids status but others have failed to do so because of fear, lack of time and lack of money.

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Analysing the Effectiveness of Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) in the Fight Against HIV/Aids Among the Youth. A Case Study of Mombasa District, Kenya

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