Street outreach rapid HIV testing in university settings: a priority strategy?

Objective: To evaluate an HIV testing program in the university environment by analyzing the prevalence of infection, risk behaviors and history of sexually transmitted infections and by performing HIV tests. Methods: During October-November of 2008 and November-December of 2009, 1668 persons received rapid HIV testing in a mobile unit located in university campuses in the cities of Madrid, Malaga and Salamanca (Spain). While waiting for the test results, participants completed a brief questionnaire. Results: A total of 15.7% were men who had sex with men (MSM), 28.6% were exclusively heterosexual men (HTX), and 55.7% were women. Nearly three-quarters (73.3%) were under 25 years of age, 8.5% were born abroad and only 4% had no secondary education. Fifty-one percent of HTX, 42% of women and 6.3% of MSM had casual sexual partners in the past 12 months without always using a condom. This behavior was also reported by 41.5% of MSM with same sex partners. A sexually transmitted infection had previously been diagnosed in 24.7% of MSMs, 14.7% of women and 5.6% of HTX. Four positive results were found, all in MSM who had been tested in the previous 2 years. The prevalence was 1.6% (95% CI: 0.43-3.95) within this group, and 0.2% overall (95% CI: 0.07-0.62). Conclusions: Despite the high frequency of risk behaviors, the low prevalence of HIV infection and the history of HIV testing suggest that university campuses are not a priority location to develop these programs, which would achieve greater impact and efficiency in more vulnerable populations. (C) 2011 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L. All rights reserved.