The social determinants of HIV testing in Botswana: a keystone for addressing the epidemic

This paper considers the distribution of HIV testing in Botswana in 2002 and 2004. Botswana is a country with a high prevalence of HIV in the general population and HIV testing is considered to be a critical component of prevention and care efforts. The study found that people who had a higher level of education, had become parents since the establishment of the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) programme, and who had provided care for someone they suspected was HIV positive/ had known someone who was HIV positive were more likely to have taken an HIV test. In a population-based sample, women were more likely to have taken an HIV test. The findings indicate the effectiveness of a routine health intervention such as PMTCT in increasing knowledge of HIV status. They also provide empirical evidence of a socio-economic differential in HIV testing, underscoring the need to design and implement health care programmes in such a way as to reduce the socio-economic gap in health protective behaviour and health outcomes.[HEFP Working Paper 02/07, LSHTM, 2007]