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

Some female participants were also hesitant to disclose because they feared their
partners’ reactions. They did not want to risk the possibility of a family break up or even
having their partners throw away their drugs. One participant narrated:
Many women I meet at the TASO clinic are afraid to disclose to their husbands
because they fear their partners’ negative reactions. A friend of mine gave birth
to five children without disclosing her status to her husband ….. When I probed,
she said she was afraid of being abandoned or stopped from taking her drugs.
[Female, 36 years, has a steady partner]
4.5.3 Fear of stigma and discrimination
Stigma continues to be a major factor that hinders disclosure, access to HIV services and
therefore contributes to HIV transmission. Some of the participants interviewed were
reluctant to disclose their sero status. They gave a few reasons for this such as fear of
being talked about in their neighbourhood, fear of being discriminated against, male ego
as well as being identified by those who know them. One male participant who did not
disclose to the partner said:
She would blame me and probably neglect me like the late wife did or begin to
talk about me in the neighbourhood. In any case, I didn’t think it is right to
disclose if someone’s going to tell the whole neighbourhood about my status.
[Male, 50 years, cohabiting]
Although Uganda has been known to be in the lead in fighting against HIV/AIDS stigma
some participants reported that the community still treated people living with HIV/AIDS
unfairly which hinders disclosure.
We are afraid to disclose the truth about our HIV status to people in the
community because they discriminate us and isolate us and since some of us are
still young, they wonder how we got infected. Some people are not aware that this
disease is got in many different ways
[Male, 27 years, married]
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