Rates, barriers and outcomes of HIV serostatus disclosure among women in developing countries: implications for prevention of mother-to-child transmission programmes.

TLDR

The article synthesizes rates, barriers, and outcomes of HIV serostatus disclosure among women in developing countries and discusses implications for pMTCT programs while proposing strategies to increase disclosure safely. The authors conducted a systematic review of 17 peer‑reviewed studies—15 from sub‑Saharan Africa and 2 from Southeast Asia—examining disclosure rates, barriers, and outcomes. Disclosure rates varied from 16.7% to 86%, with women attending free‑standing VCT clinics more likely to disclose than those in antenatal care; barriers included fear of infidelity accusations, abandonment, discrimination, and violence, which affected 3.5%–14.6% of women, underscoring the challenge of achieving optimal pMTCT uptake when partners are unaware or unsupportive.

Abstract

This paper synthesizes the rates, barriers, and outcomes of HIV serostatus disclosure among women in developing countries. We identified 17 studies from peer-reviewed journals and international conference abstracts--15 from sub-Saharan Africa and 2 from south-east Asia--that included information on either the rates, barriers or outcomes of HIV serostatus disclosure among women in developing countries. The rates of disclosure reported in these studies ranged from 16.7% to 86%, with women attending free-standing voluntary HIV testing and counselling clinics more likely to disclose their HIV status to their sexual partners than women who were tested in the context of their antenatal care. Barriers to disclosure identified by the women included fear of accusations of infidelity, abandonment, discrimination and violence. Between 3.5% and 14.6% of women reported experiencing a violent reaction from a partner following disclosure. The low rates of HIV serostatus disclosure reported among women in antenatal settings have several implications for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (pMTCT) programmes as the optimal uptake and adherence to such programmes is difficult for women whose partners are either unaware or not supportive of their participation. This article discusses these implications and offers some strategies for safely increasing the rates of HIV status disclosure among women.