Disclosure of Hiv status to sexual partners among people who ...

A participant recounted that although he intended to disclose, he found it difficult to do
so immediately. He said this was because he did not know how best to present the issue.
I decided to tell my wife three months after my second HIV test that it was
important that we begin to use condoms since I had been found to be HIV
positive. I was not able to tell her earlier because it was a very difficult subject to
bring up and I did not know how she would react. I told her that she too needed to
go and find out her status.
[Male, 42 years, married]
4.3.2.2 Unplanned disclosure
Some clients are unaware that their partners receive HIV/AIDS services at the same sites
as they do: often times, this results into accidental meetings and thus unplanned
disclosure. One of such cases involved a situation, where the participant inadvertently
met her partner at a clinic where both had been receiving HIV/AIDS services:
There was no time to plan disclosure, we simply met at the clinic that day and
knew that both of us were infected. No one was mad at the other.
[Female, 34 years, cohabiting]
In other instances, disclosure was not required given that the clients met and acquired
partners while accessing HIV/AIDS services. In such situations, the participants were
automatically aware of their partners’ serostatus.
Since both of us knew our serostatus and we met when we were receiving TASO
services, it did not require disclosure or explanation.
[Male, 41 years, married]
4.3.3 Partners’ reactions
Among the participants that disclosed their HIV status to their partners, five anticipated
negative reactions. Some of the anticipated reactions included blame, abandonment,
being hurt, quarrelled with or even killed.
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