Open AccessCaring for HIV-positive children: healthcare providers' pre-and post-disclosure experiences in Nairobi, Kenya
Author(s) -
Drusilla Makworo,
Theresa Odero
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
african journal of midwifery and women's health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2052-4293
pISSN - 1759-7374
DOI - 10.12968/ajmw.2018.0022
Subject(s) - medicine , health professionals , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , health care , family medicine , antiretroviral therapy , nursing , developing country , economics , economic growth , viral load
Background The number of children living with HIV has increased worldwide, largely due to improvements in antiretroviral therapy. Most of these children are living in sub-Saharan Africa. The rate of disclosure to children of their HIV-positive status is low in low-resource countries compared to high-resource countries.Aim To explore health professionals' experiences of caring for HIV-positive children before and after their HIV-positive status was disclosed to them. The health professionals included nurses, counsellors, nutritionists, social workers, pharmacists and clinicians with at least 1 year of experience at the paediatric section of the comprehensive care centre.Methods Nine health professionals were interviewed.Findings Results revealed that there were more challenges before disclosure than after. The main challenge was communicating with the children. The children's main concerns before disclosures included the reason for treatment and its duration, and clinic follow-up.Conclusions Health professionals should be trained on the benefits of HIV disclosure to children, in order to allow for open and direct communication between healthcare providers, parents/carers and children.