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What Prevents Central Asian Migrant Workers from Accessing HIV Testing? Implications for Increasing HIV Testing Uptake in Kazakhstan

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Abstract

Several barriers prevent key populations, such as migrant workers, from accessing HIV testing. Using data from a cross-sectional study among Central Asian migrant workers (n = 623) in Kazakhstan, we examined factors associated with HIV testing. Overall, 48% of participants had ever received an HIV test. Having temporary registration (AOR 1.69; (95% CI [1.12–2.56]), having an employment contract (AOR 2.59; (95% CI [1.58–4.23]), being able to afford health care services (AOR 3.61; (95% CI [1.86–7.03]) having a medical check-up in the past 12 months (AOR 1.85; 95% CI [1.18–2.89]), and having a regular doctor (AOR 2.37; 95% CI [1.20–4.70]) were associated with having an HIV test. HIV testing uptake among migrants in Kazakhstan falls far short of UNAIDS 90-90-90 goals. Intervention strategies to increase HIV testing among this population may include initiatives that focus on improving outreach to undocumented migrants, making health care services more affordable, and linking migrants to health care.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank community partners and study participants for their contributions to this work. This study was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Grant No. AID-176-G-13-00002-00. Dr. Davis is supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (T32 Grant #MH019139 and P30 Grant #MH043520).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. HIV Center, Division of Gender, Sexuality, & Health, New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University Medical Center, 1051 Riverside Drive, Unit 15, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Alissa Davis

  2. Social Intervention Group, School of Social Work, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Alissa Davis & Nabila El-Bassel

  3. Columbia University Global Health Research Center of Central Asia, Almaty, Kazakhstan

    Assel Terlikbayeva, Dina Terloyeva & Sholpan Primbetova

Authors
  1. Alissa Davis
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  2. Assel Terlikbayeva
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  3. Dina Terloyeva
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  4. Sholpan Primbetova
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  5. Nabila El-Bassel
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Correspondence to Alissa Davis.

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The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Columbia University research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. All protocols for the study were approved by Columbia University institutional review boards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Davis, A., Terlikbayeva, A., Terloyeva, D. et al. What Prevents Central Asian Migrant Workers from Accessing HIV Testing? Implications for Increasing HIV Testing Uptake in Kazakhstan. AIDS Behav 21, 2372–2380 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-017-1713-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-017-1713-x

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