The Chronicle, Vol. 13, No. 603
1-7 May 2006, page 7

85% of Malawians Ignorant of their HIV/AIDS Status

BY GREGORY GONDWE

The 2004 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey (2004 MDHS) results released last Wednesday in Lilongwe have shown that 85% of Malawians have not gone for HIV/AIDS testing.

The survey carried out by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed that 83% of the country’s men and women population are yet to go for HIV Testing and while 15% of the country’s women have gone for HIV testing, two percent never returned to hear their results.

The Survey, which was conducted in 10 districts in the country, interviewed an overall figure of 3,261 men of between 15 - 54 years and 11,698 women of between 15 to 49 years of age.

John Chipeta, a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer of the National AIDS Commission (NAC) said annually, only 330,000 out of the country’s four million adults get tested for HIV and that the survey has shown that only 4% of the population has gone for testing this year so far.

Despite the low number that has gone for HIV testing, the survey discovered that although sexual intercourse with a non-marital or non-cohabiting partner is associated with an increase in the risk of contracting an STI, 8% of women and 27 percent of men engaged in high risk sexual behaviour in the last twelve months.

“Condom use during the last episode of sex in high-risk sex was reported by 30% of women and 47% of men,” observed the survey, which further established that higher risk sexual behaviour is more common among youth aged 15-24.

The survey further showed that 14% of young women and 62% of young men engaged in higher risk sexual activity in the twelve months preceding the survey and only 35% of young women and 47% of young men reported using a condom during the last higher-risk sexual encounter.

The 2004 MDHS was designed to provide data to monitor the population as a follow up of the 1992 and 2000 Malawi DHS surveys.

Although most of the funds for the local costs for the survey were provided by multile donors through the National AIDS Commission (NAC), additional funding for the survey was made available by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Other donors were the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DIFD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF/Malawi) and the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA).

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention provided technical assistance in the HIV testing.

The ORC Macro International provided the survey’s technical assistance through USAID funded MEASURE DHS+ programme, which designed to assist developing countries to collect data on fertility, family planning and maternal and child health.

- Story reprinted with permission

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