KAIS 2007 1 - Kenya National AIDS & STI Control Programme ...

Knowledge and Disclosure of HIV Status chapter 55.1. Key findings• Nearly all (98.2%) respondents who had ever been tested for HIV were willingto share the results of their last HIV test.• Overall, 83.6% of respondents found to be HIV‐infected in the 2007 KAIS werenot aware of their HIV infection.• Respondents disclosed their HIV status to their partners in 35.1% of thepartnerships that were reported in the year prior to the survey.• Respondents reported a partner of unknown HIV status in 77.9% of theirpartnerships in the year prior to the survey.• Among married and cohabiting couples, 5.9% of couples were HIV‐discordant,that is, one partner was HIV‐infected and the other was not.• Among HIV‐infected adults who were married or cohabiting, 43.4% of womenand 44.4% of men had an HIV‐uninfected primary partner.5.2. IntroductionKnowledge of one’s HIV status is essential for accessing HIV care, treatment and prevention services.HIV‐infected persons who know their status can benefit from life‐saving care and treatment services,including daily cotrimoxazole (an antibiotic that prevents many common opportunistic infections thataffect people with advanced HIV), antiretroviral (ARV) medications for treating HIV and HIV‐relatedprimary care services. In addition, HIV‐infected persons who know they are infected and areappropriately counseled on risk reduction behaviour may be less likely to engage in unprotected sexwith their sex partners. Moreover, couples in HIV discordant relationships, in which one person isHIV‐infected and the other person is HIV‐uninfected, may have a reduced chance of transmitting HIVif the couple knows their HIV status and is counseled appropriately on how to reduce the risk oftransmitting HIV to the uninfected partner. This chapter presents findings from the 2007 KAIS onknowledge of HIV infection, disclosure of HIV status to sexual partners and HIV concordance anddiscordance among couples.Appendix B.5 provides sample sizes and 95% confidence intervals for estimates presented in thischapter. Throughout the chapter, the term significant indicates a chi‐square p‐value less than 0.05;marginally significant indicates a p‐value between 0.05 and 0.10, inclusive; and not significantindicates a p‐value greater than 0.10.KAIS 2007 81