Understanding the behavioral and social characteristics of VCT clients in a Shanghai hospital, China

Abstract

We conducted a cross-sectional survey in a hospital in Shanghai, China, to investigate the demographic and behavioral characteristics of clients seeking voluntary HIV counseling and testing (VCT). There were 1251 clients who participated in this study. The overall HIV seroprevalence among the clients was 4.96%. Among the study participants, 52.4% were aged 21–30 years, 77.9% were male, 53.5% were married, and 67.4% had attained the level of college education. People older than 30 years and those educated to below college level were more likely to be infected (P=0.001 and P<0.001, respectively). Most participants (83%) were motivated by sexual risk followed by blood transmission risk (9.6%). The HIV seroprevalences in these populations with risk of HIV transmission via sex and blood were 4.8% and 10%, respectively. People with prior VCT were more likely to be infected (P=0.001). These results indicate: (1) targeted intervention is needed to promote VCT uptake among people older than 30 years and educated to below college level; (2) VCT should be provided more frequently to people with a risk of blood transmission because of the high infection rate in this population; and (3) a negative test result may be a serious unintended consequence of VCT. Therefore, post-education emphasized on safer sex practices is needed.

Keywords:

• China
• HIV
• VCT
• characteristics

Acknowledgements

We thank all participants in this study. We also thank Yinzhong Shen, Tangkai Qi, Xueyang Jiang, Zhenyan Wang, Chengen Pan, and Jun Wang for assistance. This work was supported by Eleven Fifth Key Research grant from the Ministry of Science and Technology, the People's Republic of China (NO: 2008ZX10001-008) and Key Research Project of the “AIDS prevention Plan” of the Ministry of Health (WA-2007-04).