What am I ‘living’ with? Growing up with HIV in Uganda and Zimbabwe

“Not Taking it Will Just be Like a Sin”: Young People Living with HIV and the Stigmatization of Less-Than-Perfect Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy

“…Our results illustrate that many young people in our study lack an appreciation of what HIV means for their present and future, and they sometimes also have limited understanding of how it has come to be part of their lives (Bernays et al 2015). They have been repeatedly taught not to disclose their status, which signals that there is something inherently "wrong."…”

The Contextual Environmental Factors Shaping Disclosure of HIV Status across Populations Groups in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…HIV is primarily constructed in relation to a language of sickness even when children are on ART and are relatively healthy. Perinatal infected children, who started ART at an early age, have no experience of life pre-HIV [14]. Therefore, their construction of HIV is influenced by that of the adults whose context of HIV is that of a debilitating illness.…”

“…Research suggests that the process of normalizing HIV through ART is socially complex, slow, and uneven in many communities in SSA [5,14,15]. Since the wide access to ART has not succeeded in increasing the rates of disclosure, there is a need to revisit how disclosure is conceptualized by individuals infected and affected by HIV in their contextual environments under which disclosure is more or less likely to occur.…”

Dealing with disclosure: Perspectives from HIV-positive children and their older carers living in rural south-western Uganda

“…Increased coverage of anti-retroviral treatment has played a role in improving the health outcomes of a significant proportion of children living with HIV although barriers to access remain (UNAIDS, 2016). Beyond their physical wellbeing however there are serious concerns for the psychosocial wellbeing of this vulnerable population, given that the period of childhood and adolescence is a critical time of transition and growth (Bernays et al, 2015b, Mutumba et al, 2015a. Carers play a key role in supporting HIV positive children through these stages of development (Klunklin andHarrigan, 2002, Petersen et al, 2010).…”

“…Although disclosure of HIV status to children tends to be a process that raises anxiety for carers and parents , Kawuma et al, 2014, Bernays et al, 2015b, Bernays et al, 2015a it is sometimes treated as an isolated event and not part of an established communication pattern between children and carers (Vaz et al, 2010). In the Ugandan context socio-cultural norms and beliefs have been found to influence communication related to HIV status, knowledge and care between carers and children (Daniel et al, 2007, Kajubi et al, 2014a, Kajubi et al, 2014b.…”