Willingness to Offer HIV Self-testing Among Health Care Providers From Specialized HIV Care Services in the Northeast of Brazil

Abstract Background: The lack of knowledge of the serological status of people living with HIV is still a concern in Brazil. HIV self-testing (HIVST) has proved to have great potential for expanding testing, especially among more vulnerable populations. The large-scale distribution of HIVST by the Brazilian public health system has been ramped up in recent years.Methods: This study investigates the awareness, acceptability, and factors associated with willingness to offer HIV self-testing (HIVST) among health care providers (HCP) in northeastern Brazil. Cross-sectional study with HCP in 29 specialized care services (SCS) from 21 cities from state of Bahia. The inclusion criterion was that HCP had been working at least six months in the service. Sociodemographic, occupational, and behavioral data were collected using a questionnaire. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analysis, estimating the respective adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) by logistic regression, were performed.Results: The awareness and acceptability of HIVST, and willingness to offer it were 79.8%, 55.2%, and 47.1%, respectively. Few of the professionals reported that the SCS where they worked dispensed HIVST (3.6%), and 13.5% said they had received some kind of information or training on HIVST. Factors associated with willingness to offer HIVST were: HIVST acceptability (aOR = 9.45; 95% CI: 4.53 – 19.71), agreement to use it oneself (aOR = 4.45; 95% CI: 1.62 – 12.24), confidence in offering HIVST to service users (aOR = 5.73; 95% CI: 2.26 – 12.72), and considering the general public eligible for HIVST (aOR = 2.88; 95% CI: 1.25–6.59).Conclusions: Although HIVST awareness among the HCP was high, its acceptability and their willingness to offer it was moderate. More training in HIVST is needed among HCP in Brazil.