Are Female Youth Who Experience Gender Based Violence Less Likely to Test for HIV/AIDS? Evidence from Haiti and the Dominican Republic Demographic and Health Surveys

Beverly E. Andrews, University of Southampton

Research suggests that youth who experience violence are at increased risk for HIV infection. However it is also possible that youth who exeperience violence may not want to know their serostatus and therefore be less likely to take up HIV testing partly because of fear of the repercussions of a positive diagnosis. In the Caribbean the empirical research examining the linkages between gender based violence and HIV testing remain unexplored.The aim of this study is to investigate whether the experience of violence negatively impacts HIV testing uptake using population based data from Demographic and Health Surveys for two Caribbean countries- Haiti and Dominican Republic among youth aged 15-24 years. I examine six measures of violence. Adjusted multivariate logistic regression analysis shows that youth who experience emotional and less severe violence are more likely to test for HIV than youth who have not experienced violence. Policy implications of findings are discussed.