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HIV disclosure and unsafe sex among HIV-infected women in Cameroon: Results from the ANRS-EVAL study

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  • Loubiere, Sandrine
  • Peretti-Watel, Patrick
  • Boyer, Sylvie
  • Blanche, Jérôme
  • Abega, Séverin-Cécile
  • Spire, Bruno

Abstract

Encouraging seropositive people to voluntarily disclose their serostatus has been promoted as a key component of HIV prevention. Among other reasons, HIV disclosure to one's main partner is believed to be an incentive for serodiscordant couples to practice safe sex. The present article investigated this issue by conducting a cross-sectional survey of a large sample of HIV-infected women attending HIV care centers in Cameroon (NÂ =Â 1014). Overall, 86.3% of these women had disclosed their serostatus to their main partner. With respect to sexual activity with their main partner during the previous three months, 35.0% had practiced abstinence and 47.4% only safe sex, whereas 17.6% had engaged in unsafe sex at least once. HIV disclosure to one's main partner was related to safe sexual practices in multivariate analysis. Some of the factors associated with disclosure and safe sex were illustrative of the positive roles of improved access to care and women's empowerment. On the contrary, beliefs overestimating the effectiveness of antiretroviral therapies were quite widespread among respondents and predictive of both concealment of HIV status and unsafe sex.

Suggested Citation

  • Loubiere, Sandrine & Peretti-Watel, Patrick & Boyer, Sylvie & Blanche, Jérôme & Abega, Séverin-Cécile & Spire, Bruno, 2009. "HIV disclosure and unsafe sex among HIV-infected women in Cameroon: Results from the ANRS-EVAL study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 885-891, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:69:y:2009:i:6:p:885-891
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    2. Préau, Marie & Beaulieu-Prévost, Dominic & Henry, Emilie & Bernier, Adeline & Veillette-Bourbeau, Ludivine & Otis, Joanne, 2015. "HIV serostatus disclosure: development and validation of indicators considering target and modality. Results from a community-based research in 5 countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 137-146.
    3. Conroy, Amy A. & Wong, Lauren H., 2015. "How reliable are self-reports of HIV status disclosure? Evidence from couples in Malawi," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 28-37.
    4. Smith, Daniel Jordan & Mbakwem, Benjamin C., 2010. "Antiretroviral therapy and reproductive life projects: Mitigating the stigma of AIDS in Nigeria," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 345-352, July.
    5. Ci Zhang & Han-Zhu Qian & Xi Chen & Scottie Bussell & Yan Shen & Honghong Wang & Xianhong Li, 2021. "HIV testing and seroprevalence among couples of people diagnosed with HIV in China: A meta-analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-17, March.
    6. Muchomba, Felix M. & Wang, Julia Shu-Huah & Agosta, Laura Maria, 2014. "Women's land ownership and risk of HIV infection in Kenya," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 97-102.

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