KAIS 2007 1 - Kenya National AIDS & STI Control Programme ...

7.5. Perceived risk of HIV infectionIn Chapter 4, we established that the primary reason for never having been tested for HIV was thatrespondents perceived their risk of HIV infection to be low. This section examines perceptions of riskfor HIV in the subset of 97.4% of participants who provided information on testing history and whodid not self‐report HIV positive, regardless of their actual HIV status; those who self‐reported positivewould not be expected to perceive themselves at risk for HIV infection.On a national level it is important to have an understanding of people’s perceptions of risk and theaccuracy of these perceptions to better guide prevention efforts for the general population. At anindividual level, perceptions of risk can have an important effect on HIV test‐seeking behaviour andsexual behaviours.Figure 7.5a Perceived risk of HIV infection among women and men aged 15-64 years,Kenya 2007.*WomenMenModerate/Great Risk24.2%Small Risk49.0%Moderate/Great Risk15.5%Don't Know11.8%Small Risk40.8%Don't Know5.3%No Risk23.2%No Risk30.2%*Respondents who had previously tested for HIV and self‐reported positive based on the results of the last HIV test (approximately1%) were excluded from this analysis.Figure 7.5a More men than women perceived themselves to have small or no risk for HIV.KAIS respondents were asked “Do you think that your chance of getting AIDS is small, moderate orgreat or is there no risk at all?” Of all respondents aged 15‐64 years who had been tested for HIV butdid not self‐report positive based on their last HIV test, 70.7% of respondents believed they had smallor no risk of acquiring HIV, 20.4% of respondents reported themselves to be at moderate or great riskand 9.0% did not know (data not shown). Perceived risk differed significantly by sex: 79.2% of menbelieved themselves to be at small or no risk of HIV compared to 64.0% of women.KAIS 2007 130