Assessment of Community Mobilization and Home-based HIV Counselling and Testing Offered by Health Facilities in Rural Uganda

Abstract

Home-based HIV counselling and testing (HBHCT) and community mobilization have been proven to be effective in increasing the number of people linked to HIV care and treatment. An assessment was conducted in 18 health facilities in Uganda to evaluate the availability and extent of home based testing services and community mobilization activities in underserved communities. The performance of the health facilities was assessed using a checklist with indicators of HBHCT and community mobilization. While most of the health facilities (72.2%) had active community mobilization, only 12.2% had HBHCT services and this might have affected universal access to HIV prevention, care and treatment. The health facilities did not accompany their intensive community mobilization activities with HBHCT yet this provided the ideal entry point and opportunity to improve linkage to HIV treatment and care. Afr J Reprod Health 2013 (Special Edition); 17[4]: 171-176).

Keywords: Home based testing, HIV, community mobilization