social context of disclosing hiv test results: hiv testing in tanzania

There is no doubt that such a person decided to take an HIV test only to confirm
that her sickness was HIV/AIDS related. Another 25-year-old female respondent who
became frightened after learning that she had been infected with HIV explained her
ordeal as follows:
First of all I did not believe when the counsellor told me that my results
were positive. I became very fearful and so worried. I knew I was going to
die soon. Most people have been saying that once infected, the chances for
one to survive are small and that most people die early. As a result, I
feared that I was going to die soon.
The above experience is also shared by a 40-year-old female respondent:
I really felt shocked and very disturbed when the counsellor disclosed the
HIV-positive results to me. I thought about my family. I thought seriously
that taking into consideration that my husband died a while ago, and now
I am HIV positive, who will take care of my family/children when I die.
Whom do I leave my family with?
For those who showed their sense of denial, their feelings are represented by a 37year-old
man in the following way:
When I learned that I was HIV positive, I simply did not believe what the
counsellor was telling me. I thought my relatives might have bewitched
me. It is not easy for me to get this infection. This cannot be true.
6.5.2 Implication of Test Results and Future Health
A 38-year-old married man living with AIDS had this to say as far as the question
of future health is concerned:
The counsellor advised me to live with great care. I was told to abstain or
avoid unsafe sex. When abstinence is not possible, I was advised to use
condoms. I was told that since I was infected with HIV, now I had to
abandon certain activities, and follow A, B, C regime. I then asked my
counsellor what A, B, C meant? I was told A meant total abstinence from
sex, to which I responded that I was already abstaining. B stood for being
faithful (sticking to one sexual partner), which means avoiding multiple
partners, and C meant if I could not manage to handle the first two then I
was supposed to apply the C which meant using condoms. The counsellor
also advised me to eat good nutritious food. He suggested that for my
health condition I was supposed to have six meals a day.
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