HIV SEROSTATUS DISCLOSURE AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN ATTENDING ANTENATAL CARE CLINIC AT USMANU DANFODIO UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL, SOKOTO

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Author

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Department of Medicine

ABSTRACT
The disclosure of HIV serostatus has adverse sociopsychological consequences and is presently a major public health challenge in many African countries including Nigeria. With increasing uptake of HIV counseling and testing among pregnant women in Nigeria, there has been increasing concern about whether those found to be positive would report the results of the test to their spouses or sexual partners. This study explores the issues concerning disclosure of HIV status to husband/partners among women attending the antenatal clinic of Usman Danfodio University Teaching Hospital Sokoto. Objectives: This study is aimed at determining the prevalence, barriers and outcome of HIV serostatus disclosure among pregnant women attending antenatal care clinic at UDUTH and its implications for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Methodology: The study was a cross-sectional and descriptive study with both quantitative and qualitative component. Results: The prevalence of HIV serostatus disclosure was 66.7% among HIV Positive women and 82% among HIV negative women. Intent to disclose HIV positive result among HIV women was found to be 65.1%. Only 1(16.7%) of the participants disclosed her HIV positive result in less than a month from diagnosis. In the remaining disclosure was made between 1 and 11 months. There was no statistically significant relationship between age, educational status, duration of marriage and disclosure, possibly because of the low proportion of the HIV positive participants in the study. The most important barrier to disclosure found in the study was fear of divorce. The outcome of disclosure was found to positive in the study with about 50% of the participants reporting their husbands as being supportive and 66.6% of the participants were still in relationship with their husbands. Conclusion: the study revealed that disclosure was high among both HIV positive and negative participants. The most feared barrier to disclosure was fear of divorce and in general a positive outcome followed the disclosure. It is recommended that involvement of male partner should be early in HIV counseling and testing process to reduce or remove the most feared barrier to disclosure.