A study to determine the challenges faced by HIV positive persons in disclosing HIV status to their partners.

Abstract

The aim of the study was "To determine the challenges faced by HIV positive persons in disclosing their status to their partners. The study was conducted in Lusaka which is the capital city of Zambia. Fifty respondents of HIV positive persons (male and female) aged 15 to 49 years which is a reproductive age group were sampled. Literature was reviewed which included global, regional and national. Most of the literature revealed showed that HIV/AIDS infection is on the increase especially in reproductive age 15 to 49 years. The study sought to identify and assess the HIV positive persons perception on partner notification in order to explore the impact of partner notification in the presence of socio-cultural factors and then make recommendations to relevant authorities and policy makers on how to minimise the challenges of disclosure. A non-experimental descriptive research design was used. The study comprise of 50 respondents for the actual study and five respondents for the pilot study. The pilot study was conducted to test the suitability of the methodology. The data was analysed manually with the aid of the calculator and the findings were presented in form of graphs and tables. The study revealed that majority that is 56% of the respondents informed their partners of their HIV positivity while 14% did not. Thirty percent of the respondents were those who were not in any sexual relationship at that moment. The study findings showed that majority (40%) of the respondents were faced with challenges of fear to loose their status to their partners. (2%) of the respondents said that they lacked knowledge on how to break the news to their partners while 28% said that they faced none of the challenges since they underwent couple voluntary counseling and testing (VCT).