The impact of HIV testing on current use of modern family planning among women and men in Uganda

Abstract

The paper examines the association between HIV testing and the current use of modern family planning method in Uganda. Cross-sectional data on 5,243 sexually active and non-ammenorrheic women and 1,569 sexually experienced men, obtained from the 2,011 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey data were used. The results show that although HIV testing was high (80.7% of women and 61.4% of men), use of modern family planning method was low (27.7% of women and 16% of men) and varies by HIV testing status. More women (30%) than men (19.1%) who have ever tested for HIV were using a modern method of family planning (p= .0001). The unadjusted results show that women and men who have ever tested for HIV were 1.88 (p= .0001) and 1.87 (p= .0001) times respectively significantly more likely to be currently using a modern family planning method. However, the adjusted effect of HIV testing on current use of modern family planning method reduced to 1.30 (p .001) times for women and 1.37 (p>0.05) times for men after controlling for the effects of other explanatory variables. We conclude that despite the high rates of HIV testing, current use of modern family planning method is low for both genders in this population. This suggests a high risk of sexual and MTCT of HIV. We recommend the integration of family planning in HIV testing to increase uptake of modern family planning.