Living with HIV/AIDS in Lomé, Togo: to disclose or not to disclose to children

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the patterns of self-disclosure of HIV/AIDS infection and reasons respondents did not disclose their serostatus to their children.

Design/methodology/approach – Convenience sample of 151 people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Lomé, Togo, was used. Semi-structured interviews were administered.

Findings – Unlike studies conducted in the USA, it was found that although all of the respondents had disclosed their status to HIV/AIDS service providers from whom they received help and support, they had low rates of disclosure to their significant others. For instance, only 12 per cent of the participants had disclosed to their mothers and 16 per cent had disclosed to their children. Additionally, reasons given by respondents for non-disclosure of their infected status to their children were varied. Regardless of the age of the children, half of the parents believed that the children were either too young or were minors and should not know about their HIV infected status.

Research limitations/implications – Implications for helping people with HIV/AIDS, their service providers, and policy makers are discussed.

Originality/value – The study shows that HIV/AIDS service providers need to understand the family dynamics of PLWHA in Africa in order to appropriately help them to disclose.