Abstract:
Background: Despite the multisectoral response to HIV epidemic and the promotion of combination prevention with
HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) as an entry into Treatment, Care and Support, coverage has remained low and certain HIV
positive persons continue to witness stigmatization and discrimination.Though strategies to scale up HCT services have largely
promoted provider initiated mobile HCT including home testing, we investigated the outcome of a provider initiated faith based
organization, Faith Alive Foundation and Hospital located in Jos and its facility based HCT among pre-surgical patients in Jos
Plateau state, North Central Nigeria.Methods: We conducted a cross sectional survey among pre-surgical patients at Faith Alive
Foundation and Hospital in Jos Plateau state from 16-20th December 2013. Participants were selected by simple random as they
presented at the hospital after vital signs and clinical diagnosis. HIV Counseling and Testing was provided according to the
National guidelines and standards with the “opt out” algorithm.Data were captured and analyzed on Epi Info 6.04. Cross
tabulations were used to generate descriptive statistics including frequency distribution, percentages and Fisher’s exact odds
ratios at 95% confidence limits with 5% probability level of significance. Results:More than half (56%) of participants were
males, 44% were females with a median age of 39 years. HIV seropositive rate was at least two fold higher in females than in
male participants and overall HIV positive estimate was 12.2% ( 95%CI , 9.6 – 16.3). In addition, majority (84%) of surgical
presentations identified during the outreach were hernia cases (33%), and the rest lipoma (25%), appendicitis (12%) and other
forms of lumps (12%). Response rate during the provider initiated pre-surgical HCT “opt-out” design was 100%.Conclusion:
Though strategies to scale up HCT services have largely promoted provider initiated mobile HCT, we found high rate of HIV in
a provider initiated facility based HCT among pre-surgical patients in Jos, Plateau state of North Central Nigeria with 100%
response rate in an “opt-out” design.Therefore, pre-surgical Patient Initiated HIV Testing and Counseling (PITC) is a viable
strategy that may significantly contribute towards Universal Access to HIV/AIDS prevention service
