HIV testing of construction workers in the Western Cape, South Africa

Abstract

With an infection rate estimated at 14%, the South African construction industry is one of the economic sectors most adversely affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Construction workers are considered a high-risk group. The provision and uptake of voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) is critical to reducing transmission rates. This study examined the testing behaviour of site-based construction workers in terms of demographic and lifestyle risk behaviour characteristics to help inform better strategies for work-based interventions by construction firms. A total of 512 workers drawn from six firms operating on 18 construction sites in the Western Cape province participated in the study. Twenty-seven per cent of the participants reported never having been tested for HIV. Results indicate that females (aOR = 4.45, 95% CI, 1.25–15.82), older workers (aOR = 1.40, 95% CI, 1.08–1.81), permanent workers (aOR = 1.67, 95% CI, 1.11–2.50) and workers whom had previously used a condom (aOR = 1.93, 95% CI, 1.02–3.65) were significantly more likely to have been tested. Ethnicity was not significantly related to prior testing. Identification of these subgroups within the industry has implications for the development of targeted work-based intervention programmes to promote greater HIV testing among construction workers in South Africa.

Keywords:

• HIV testing
• construction workers
• demographics
• risk behaviours
• South Africa

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express their appreciation to the HSRC for permitting them to draw on relevant HSRC questionnaires in the compilation of the survey questionnaire employed in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work is based on research supported by the National Research Foundation of South Africa [grant number (UID) 85376]. The Grantholder acknowledges that opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in any publication generated by the NRF supported research are those of the authors, and that the NRF accepts no liability whatsoever in this regard.