Jornal de Técnicas Imunológicas e Doenças Infecciosas

Prevalence of HIV Infection among VCT Users and Assessment of Socio-Demographic Factors Affecting the Follow-Up Status of Clients on ART in Gondar Town, Northwest Ethiopia

Tadesse Guadu, Yigzaw Kebede, Tadesse Awoke and Mersha Chanie

Prevalence of HIV Infection among VCT Users and Assessment of Socio-Demographic Factors Affecting the Follow-Up Status of Clients on ART in Gondar Town, Northwest Ethiopia

Voluntary counseling and testing (VCT), for HIV infection, allows individuals to determine their HIV status and serves as a gateway for both HIV prevention and early access to Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) for sero-positive clients. However, very little is known about these profiles and HIV prevalence of VCT clients in Gondar town. A cross-sectional study design was carried out by collecting retrospective data from VCT clients’ records inprivate and government health centers (July 2005-July 2009) and ART charts (July 2004-July 2007), from government health institutions, to assess the prevalence of HIV infection among VCT users and assess socio-demographic factors affecting the follow-up status of ART clients in Gondar Town.