AEGiS-14IAC: The impact of voluntary counseling and testing and HIV awareness on shortening the duration from infection to HIV diagnosis in Thailand.

14th International AIDS Conference


Barcelona, Spain - July 7-12, 2002

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The impact of voluntary counseling and testing and HIV awareness on shortening the duration from infection to HIV diagnosis in Thailand.

Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no. MoOrD1017)

Rumakom P
Horizons, The Population Council, Bangkok, Thailand

BACKGROUND: To examine the time from HIV infection to HIV positive diagnosis and determine factors that can reduce this duration.

METHODS: A cohort of 361 Thai HIV positive participants were enrolled from Lampang province, Northern Thailand from 1999-2001. Life tables were used to calculate the probability of time from infection to HIV positive diagnosis and a multiple linear regression was used to determine factors affecting the time from infection to HIV positive diagnosis.

RESULTS: Medium time from infection to being diagnosed HIV+ was 2.66 years. Males took longer before being diagnosed than females (2.95 versus 2.53 years p= .04). The multiple linear regression showed that the year of infection had the strongest impact on the time before being diagnosed HIV+ for both males and females. Respondents infected during 1985-1992 experienced almost 2 years longer before learning of their HIV+ status than did those infected after 1992 (4.25 years versus 2.47 years, p< .001). Before 1992, females took longer than males to being diagnosed, however, after 1992 they took less time. Number of children was a significant predictor only among females. Females who had one or no children had a longer medium time to being tested than those who had more than one child (2.67 years versus 2.20 years, p= .03). Discussion: Shorter duration from infection to HIV diagnosis over the period of the Thai HIV/AIDS epidemic has resulted from the expanded anonymous HIV/AIDS voluntary counseling and testing services and increased HIV awareness among Thais. Further, HIV blood tests at ANC clinics has allowed women to learn of their HIV positive status earlier. Innovative strategies for promoting males to test for HIV/AIDS are needed to reduce the time from when males are infected until they learn of their HIV status.

Keywords: AEGIS, HIV, HIV Infections, Counseling, HIV Seropositivity, Thailand, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Research Design, AIDS Serodiagnosis, HIV Seroprevalence, HIV Seronegativity, Human, Female, Male, Child, Diagnosis, immunologyKWDaegis,hiv,hivinfections,counseling,hivseropositivity,thailand,acquiredimmunodeficiencysyndrome,researchdesign,aidsserodiagnosis,hivseroprevalence,hivseronegativity,human,female,male,child,diagnosis,immunology

020707
MoOrD1017

Copyright © 2002 - International AIDS Society (IAS). Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the IAS.