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Factors Influencing HIV Status Disclosure to Partners Among Antiretroviral Therapy Clients in the Upper East Region, Ghana

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Abstract

In Ghana, HIV status disclosure to partners is voluntary. This study sought to determine the factors associated with HIV status disclosure to partners among antiretroviral therapy (ART) clients in the Upper East Region. A matched case–control study (1:1) was carried out in nine ART sites in the Upper East region in which 100 ART sexually active clients who had not disclosed their status to their partners were compared with 100 ART sexually ART clients who had disclosed their status to their partners. To each of the 200 study participants, a structured questionnaire was administered to elicit relevant responses. Discordant pair analysis was done with Mantel–Haenszel matched test to determine associations between variables. The study found persons with informal education more likely to disclose HIV status, whereas persons living apart or not having children with a partner were less likely to disclose their status to their sexual partners. On the other hand, active involvement or participation in ART-related services were more likely going to impact HIV status disclosure. Early initiation of ART, while adherence to ART services and the use of treatment monitors were less associated with disclosure. Active participation in ART related services such as prompt initiation of ART following diagnosis, adherence promotion, and treatment monitoring should be encouraged to promote HIV status disclosure among sexual partners.

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Data Availability

Raw data has been deposited at the Harvard Dataverse repository and can be assessed from https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/WYTYMS.

Code Availability

Not applicable.

Abbreviations

HIV:

Human immunodeficiency virus

AIDS:

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

STIs:

Sexually Transmission Infections

ART:

Antiretroviral therapy

PMTCT:

Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission

HTC:

HIV testing and counselling

PLHIV:

People living with HIV

DHIMS2:

District Health Information Management System 2

ANC:

Antenatal care

HSS:

HIV Sentinel Survey

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all the participants who volunteered and offered their time and information for this study. We also wish to acknowledge the heads of the centres where the study was conducted.

Funding

The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work. No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this manuscript. No funding was received for conducting this study. No funds, grants, or other support was received.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, PMB 31, Ho, Ghana

    Thomas Abugbilla Atugba & Fred Newton Binka

  2. School of Basic and Biomedical Sciences, University of Health and Allied Sciences, PMB 31, Ho, Ghana

    Enoch Aninagyei & Kwabena Obeng Duedu

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  1. Thomas Abugbilla Atugba
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  2. Enoch Aninagyei
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  3. Fred Newton Binka
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  4. Kwabena Obeng Duedu
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Contributions

TA, FNB and KOD: Conceptualization; TA, EA, FNB and KOD: methodology; TA, EA, FNB and KOD: formal analysis and investigation; TA and EA: writing—original draft preparation; FNB and KOD: writing—review and editing; TA: resources; FNB and KOD: supervision.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kwabena Obeng Duedu.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article. All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript. The authors have no financial or proprietary interests in any material discussed in this article.

Ethical Approval

The study was reviewed and approved by the University of Health and Allied Sciences Research Ethical Committee (UHAS-REC) with reference number UHAS-REC A. l [40] 19–20. In addition, permission was obtained from the respective health directorates that oversaw the facilities in the study areas.

Consent to Participate

All participants gave an informed consent to participate in the study.

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Not applicable.

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Atugba, T.A., Aninagyei, E., Binka, F.N. et al. Factors Influencing HIV Status Disclosure to Partners Among Antiretroviral Therapy Clients in the Upper East Region, Ghana. AIDS Behav 26, 2653–2663 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-022-03612-w

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