Title: The right not to know HIV-test results [letter]

POPLINE Document Number: 109109

Author(s):

Green J
Kentish J

Source citation:

Lancet, 1995 Jun 10;345(8963):1508.

Abstract:

Temmerman and colleagues report 5.9% of HIV-positive women being chased out of the house, beaten by their partner, or committing suicide. The situation was worse than this, since 13 of 66 (19.7%) who told their partners were subjected to such treatment. Most women who chose not to tell their partners (73%) may have included those with most reason to fear violence, Temmerman and co-workers relied only on spontaneous reports from women, so the true violence rate might have been higher. It is hardly surprising that so many women chose not to disclose their status. It is surprising that such effects have not been systematically documented in the past, although several workers have referred to the issue in passing. In a study of discordant Zairean couples Kamenega and colleagues reported that culturally-sensitive counseling of couples (rather than individuals) had "prevented several separations, episodes of intrafamilial violence and eventual divorce." North and Rothernberg reported anecdotally in the US two women who were shot and many others who were injured or abandoned after revealing to their partners that they were infected with HIV. Among seropositive heterosexual women in our clinics in London, concerns about possible partner violence have been frequently voiced. Violence against women associated with partner notification is, of course, part of wider difficulties resulting from power imbalances between men and women in most societies. Such difficulties are not restricted to women. Brown and co-workers reported that 3 of 120 UK gay men had experienced violence as a result of telling others about their status. Temmerman and colleagues conclude that their findings are grounds for women not being forced to know their status. They are also grounds for counselors playing a much more direct part in helping patients to tell partners rather than merely exhorting the patient to do so, and for providing much more extensive support to couples after a positive test result. At the very least studies in this area need to monitor the extent of this problem more directly than hitherto. (full text)

Keywords:

HIV Infections
Confidential Information
Violence
Counseling
Women's Status
Sexual Partners
Viral Diseases
Diseases
Ethics
Behavior
Clinic Activities
Program Activities
Programs
Organization and Administration
Socioeconomic Factors
Economic Factors
Sex Behavior