La oferta de la prueba rápida del VIH en la calle dentro del ámbito universitario: ？una estrategia prioritaria?

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, málaga 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.