Where are HIV services? a question by every one person among ten Ugandans

Despite the continued enormous financial investment, through both local and donor funding, into HIV prevention and care services in Uganda, prevalence rates are rising. Knowledge of HIV determines both uptake of HIV prevention services and behavioural change. We assessed knowledge of HIV service sites and testing benefits among Ugandans at community level. 5320 adult participants randomly selected were involved in the study. Twelve percent had no knowledge of any HIV service site accessible to them, while only 4.4% knew at least 50% of eight benefits of HIV testing, 35% of those without any idea of the benefits of HIV testing did not know HIV service sources. Knowledge of HIV services sources was dependent on age, level of education and marital status with teens being least knowledgeable. Findings of this study indicate need for change of HIV prevention strategies as well as need for teen focus programs.