Despite frequent sensitization of people against stigmatization, some Eldoret residents still fear to screen for HIV status as a majority of them are scared of knowing whether they are positive or not.
A section of men in Eldoret town has confessed to why they are afraid of going through the experience of visiting a Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) and get tested for HIV.
Majority say they have opted to deliberately ignore the need to know their health status even after engaging in unprotected sex with a string of girls
“I am worried if I will be found positive, how can I take it personally? Provided my health is stable, there is no need of checking for HIV,” said Richard Kiplagat, a local in Eldoret.
A lady who identified herself as Rosy claimed that the majority of men have run away when she suggested screening for HIV/Aids.
He noted that most men are worried about exposing their status.
“Two men tried to hook me up last year which I accepted but in a condition that we confirm our status before carrying on with the relationship, they gradually cut off communication and muted,” Rose a student in one of the local institutions said.
However, she revealed that some men prefer making a prior test on their own, then happily jump out of the testing boots and push for their lover to get tested.
A bodaboda rider Dennis Kemboi admitted that he only gets tested with his lover when he has tested himself alone and found that everything is well.
“What bothers most is when they don’t know their current health status, some of us fear not actually to be tested but to get tested positive,” Kemboi noted but admitted that it’s good for one to regularly get screened so as to enable him/her to take precautionary action at early stages of infection.
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