Factors

Description

Social fear caused by mixed messages in community outreach

Awareness messages are not coordinated and synchronized according to the aspects of care for the woman, family, and community. Improving knowledge of the community tends to reinforce the stigmatization vis-à-vis those infected or likely to be infected. This stigma is not necessarily based on the profile of the person, but also on the set of actions taken, often linked to the attitude or behavior of people living with HIV. Thus, women cannot adopt caring behaviors that differentiate them from others because they risk being suspected of being HIV carriers. This is the case of mixed breastfeeding after 6 months or taking ARVs at home and administering ARVs to the baby carried out clandestinely in a household where the partner and the family of the man are not cooperative and where the churches continue to believe in the evil origin of disease.

“Given that sensitization was sometimes done from door to door… This led to suspicions by the spouses of two actors (sensitizer and PLWHA) and raised the conflict…” HIV focal point

Lack of obvious strategy on partner involvement

Although there are many slogans about the importance of integrating HIV care into the family unit, in practice, there is no proven strategy implemented to involve the partner in the care of the woman.

The involvement of the man in the program is a question of the balance of power in the household, between the man and the woman and of the social representation of the disease. Because care programs rely on women for the involvement of their partners, this will only really be carried out when the women have not perceived it as a threat to the life of the couple. “…The family influences success if it is credible and failure if it discloses the HIV status of their member…” HIV focal point

“…persuading the woman to announce her HIV status to her partner is difficult for fear of divorce…” or “…it can lead to the loss of children…” HIV focal point