Factors contributing to the failure by parents and care givers to disclose the status of children who are HIV positive

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: HIV and AIDS are developmental challenges the world for Africa, businesses, family and individuals are facing. No single person is immune from the effects of the deadly epidemic. Efforts to fight the pandemic are finally paying off as in many countries the morbidity and the mortality rates are falling; however, the worrying factor is infection rates are increasing particularly among young people. The discovery of Antiretroviral Treatment has brought hope and relief to those infected and nations of the world as people can now live longer as they continue to support their families while contributing to the development of their countries by paying rates and taxes.While efforts to fight off the epidemic are rewarding in some areas, HIV is opening yet other avenues which could potentially undermine the battle against the deadly virus. Due to the availability of ARVs an increasing number of children are being born to HIV positive parents despite the availability of PMTCT programs. The danger is most of these children born to HIV parents are unaware of their own positive status and they are not informed of their infection. Some of these children are sexually active within certain sexual contextual behaviour in Namibia namely early sexual debut, multiple concurrent sexual partners, intergenerational sex, transactional sex, alcohol and substance abuse, low condom use, low risk perception of HIV among young people and low male circumcision.The study objective was to establish why parents are failing to disclose to their children they are HIV positive; parents were facing challenges in telling the truth about their status. Often parents keep HIV as far as possible from these children where they tell them instead they are suffering from some ailments other than the infection. Sadly most children trust the words of their parents and guardians. However, some of the children establish their status from external sources and this is creating problems in the families with some giving up on ARVs, while there are incidences of them taking their own lives.The study found often parents even if they want to disclose they do not have the skills and knowledge. Sadly most parents are not aware of the dangers of their failure to disclose to their children. Their focus is based on the narrow interest of keeping the child in the dark not knowing the young person could be spreading HIV or defaulting on treatment since they do not fully understand why they are taking such medication.As the way forward guidelines on disclosure should be made available to help parents and guardians act responsible. In addition instead of training limited personnel in the public and NGO sector the attention should focus on the care giving role. In addition the topic on disclosure should be extended to the media to keep the debate going in view of limited resources.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University