HIV Testing and Knowledge among Young Women in Rwanda: An Analysis of 2019-2020 Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey

Background: HIV testing remains an important means to fight against HIV infection. However, many infected persons are unaware of their HIV infection. In Rwanda, HIV testing among young women decreased from 59% to 55% between 2015 and 2020. This study evaluated the influence of HIV-related knowledge on HIV testing uptake among young women in Rwanda. Methods: This study analyzed the 2019/20 Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey (RDHS) data for 5,732 women aged 15-24 years. Summary statistics, bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the relationship between HIV testing and HIV-related knowledge. Results: HIV testing among young women was 55.1% and the majority (81.3%) of them knew that a healthy looking person can have HIV. After controlling for confounders, young women who had medium (OR=0.854; 95% CI: 0.756-0.964, P=0.011) and low (OR=0.357; 95% CI: 0.269-0.474, P<0.001) HIV-related knowledge were about 15% and 64% less likely to be tested for HIV respectively compared to those with a high HIV knowledge. Further, young women aged 20-24, who completed secondary education, and experienced high exposure to media were seven times, 78.9% and 48% more likely to test for HIV than those aged 15-19, with no education and low exposure to media respectively. Those from rural were about 20% less likely to test for HIV than those from urban areas. Conclusion: Interventions aimed to boost HIV testing among young women in Rwanda should focus on improvement of HIV-related knowledge especially among adolescent with low education level from rural area. Key words: HIV, HIV testing, HIV-related knowledge, young women, Rwanda .