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

to their children in case they died, and they expected their relatives would take care of
their children in case they become seriously sick or died.
Information derived from religious and government leaders shows that some
widows disclose their HIV-positive status to them because they need care and support.
According to them, this is more so with widows who are sick and are taking care of
orphans at the same time. In this case, sickness and the need for support for orphans
compel these people to share their situation with religious or government leaders. At the
same time, these leaders told us that some widows did not like to show their HIV
serostatus although most people suspected the cause of death of their partners to be
AIDS. They also confirmed that there were some widows who continued to have sexual
relations with other people in the community, and that such widows were very unlikely to
volunteer to take an HIV test.
7.5.3 Disclosure among Young Singles
Of the respondents interviewed, 11 were young and unmarried: three young men
and eight young women. The patterns of disclosure among this group differed from those
who were married or divorced. Four individuals (two men and two women) disclosed
their results to their mothers, two girls disclosed to their boyfriends, and one young man
disclosed to his girlfriend. In addition, one woman and one man also disclosed to their
friends. One woman disclosed to a church leader in addition to her relatives. One young
man did not disclose to his girlfriend because, he said, he feared that she might commit
suicide. Three young women did not disclose to anybody at all due to their fear of being
discriminated against. One 17-year-old girl disclosed neither to her relatives nor to her
boyfriend because she was also uncertain about their reaction. She was more concerned
with holding onto their support as long as she could than she was with disclosing her
results. Below, she explains her situation:
Case 3
Researcher: …Thank you very much my young sister. Now, can you
please tell me after receiving your test result to whom
have you so far disclosed the test results?
Respondent: To be honest I have not told anybody. I have not disclosed
to anybody because of fear to be chased away from home. I
have not even told my boyfriend for fear that he might
abandon me while I still need his support.
Researcher: If until today you have not told even your boyfriend, don’t
you have a concern that you might infect him?
Respondent: I will not tell him at all because I depend on him as far as
money is concerned. If I tell him, where will I be getting the
money? My mother is not well-off financially. The major
reason why I do not want to disclose is my fear that I will
64