Gyamfi Eric, Okyere Paul, Enoch Acheampong, Appiah-Brempong Emmanuel
Margaret Marquart Catholic Hospital, Kpando, Ghana.
Department of Health Promotion and Education, School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
BMC Int Health Hum Rights. 2017 Apr 8;17(1):8. doi: 10.1186/s12914-017-0114-6.
Globally there are about 3.3million children under the age of 15 years living with HIV. Of this number, 88% live in sub-Saharan Africa. In Ghana, an estimated 33,000 children were said to be living with the HIV infection in 2012. Lack of disclosure adversely affects the well-being of the child, including access to paediatric HIV treatment and care and adherence to treatment. However, the greatest psychosocial challenges that parents and caregivers of HIV-infected children face is disclosure of HIV status to their infected children. This study sought to determine the prevalence of and the barriers to the disclosure of HIV status to infected children and adolescents in Lower Manya-Krobo District in Ghana.
A cross sectional study with a sample of 118 caregivers of HIV infected children and adolescents aged 4-19 years attending three HIV clinics in the Lower Manya Krobo District, and 10 key informants comprising of healthcare workers and HIV volunteer workers involved in the provision of care to infected children and their families.
The prevalence of disclosure was higher. Main barriers to disclosure identified in this study included age of child, perceived cause of HIV, stigma attached to HIV, child's inability to keep diagnosis to self and fear of psychological harm to child.
There is the need for the Ghana Health Service in conjunction with the Ghana Aids Commission and the National Aids Control Programme to develop comprehensive context-based disclosure guidelines.
全球约有330万15岁以下儿童感染艾滋病毒。其中，88%生活在撒哈拉以南非洲。在加纳，2012年估计有3.3万名儿童感染艾滋病毒。不透露病情会对儿童的幸福产生不利影响，包括获得儿科艾滋病毒治疗和护理以及坚持治疗。然而，艾滋病毒感染儿童的父母和照顾者面临的最大心理社会挑战是向其感染艾滋病毒的子女透露病情。本研究旨在确定加纳下曼亚-克罗博地区向感染艾滋病毒的儿童和青少年透露病情的患病率及障碍。
一项横断面研究，样本包括在加纳下曼亚-克罗博地区的三家艾滋病毒诊所就诊的118名4至19岁艾滋病毒感染儿童和青少年的照顾者，以及10名关键信息提供者，包括参与为感染儿童及其家庭提供护理的医护人员和艾滋病毒志愿者。
透露病情的患病率较高。本研究确定的主要透露障碍包括儿童年龄、艾滋病毒的感知病因、与艾滋病毒相关的耻辱感、儿童无法对自己的诊断保密以及担心对儿童造成心理伤害。
加纳卫生服务机构需要与加纳艾滋病委员会和国家艾滋病控制规划联合制定基于具体情况的全面透露病情指南。
