HIV-related misinformation, testing, and non-disclosure in selected urban and peri-urban areas of West Nile, Eastern, and Northern Uganda

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BACKGROUND: In Uganda, urban centres face a high prevalence of HIV, exacerbated by misinformation(inaccurate or false beliefs about HIV transmission, prevention, or treatment), low testing rates, and non-disclosure of HIV status (not revealing one's HIV test result, particularly to sexual partners).However, evidence on the prevalence and determinants of HIV-related misinformation, testing, and disclosure within these urban and peri-urban centres remains limited. This study assessed the prevalence of HIV testing, misinformation, and non-disclosure in selected urban and peri-urban centres of West Nile, Eastern and Northern Uganda to inform targeted interventions aimed at improving HIV awareness, increasing the uptake of HIV testing services, and facilitating disclosure. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 930 households in five urban and peri-urban centres in Uganda. A multistage sampling technique was used to select participants. A digitised, structured questionnaire preloaded on the KoboCollect mobile application was used to collect data. Data were downloaded in Microsoft Excel and exported into Stata version 14 for statistical analysis. Modified Poisson regression was used to determine the factors associated with the outcome variables. RESULTS: About 93.2% of respondents were misinformed about HIV, 20.8% had not disclosed their HIV status, and 3.3% had never been tested for HIV. Having a primary level of education (PR:0.96, 95% CI:0.93-0.99, p = 0.035) and spending more than 6 years in the area (PR: 1.05, 95% CI:1.00-1.10, p = 0.029) were associated with "HIV-related misinformation." Being knowledgeable about some special drugs that a doctor or a nurse could give to a woman infected with the HIV/AIDs virus to reduce the risk of transmission to the baby (PR:1.03, 95% CI:1.00-1.07, p = 0.024) was associated with "HIV testing". Being married (PR:0.89, 95% CI:0.65 - 0.12, p < 0.001 was associated with "non-disclosure" of HIV status. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the ongoing challenge of HIV/AIDS misinformation among urban populations in Uganda. While progress has been made in testing and disclosure, factors such as education, length of residence, and knowledge significantly influence these outcomes. These findings emphasise the importance of targeted educational interventions that provide clear, accurate HIV/AIDS information to enhance awareness, increase testing rates, and support the disclosure of HIV status.

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