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

[Male, 40 years, married]
The pregnant women under the PMTCT program are educated to take extra precaution in
childcare and this often necessitates the need for their partners’ help. As a result, these
women disclose to get this assistance. One female participant in the FGD commented;
When I visited the antenatal clinic the doctor ( PMTCT Program) told us about
the option of replacement feeds for the baby after breastfeeding for three months.
I realised that I had to disclose to my husband to gain his support financially and
otherwise.
[Female, 30 years, married]
4.4.3 Prior Knowledge of the Partner’s HIV status
Some clients have partners who tested and then disclosed their serostatus to them before
they were aware of their own. When these clients finally chose to go for the HIV test, it
proved to be a lot easier to disclose to their partners who had already taken the initiative
to reveal their status. One participant said;
4.4.4 Anger
My wife had found out her serostatus earlier and was already receiving services
at TASO. She encouraged me and I came with her for an HIV test. There was no
problem disclosing to her since she too was HIV positive and had lost her first
husband [Male, 47 years, married]
Some of the participants both in the individual interviews and FGD found out about their
HIV serostatus while visiting antenatal clinics. The disclosure that was made to the
partners was due to a reaction to the HIV positive results after an HIV test. One female
participant during an individual interview said:
On leaving the antenatal clinic I went and disclosed to my husband. I had heard
rumours that he had earlier lost a spouse and a child and so I wanted to go and
tell him how angry I was with him for infecting me. I said, ‘How dare you marry
me to kill me after knowing that you lost your spouse?!’
[Female, 29 years, married]
47