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According to a new study and
literature review, women in many countries fear HIV/AIDS stigma and so avoid
getting tested or receiving medical care when they are pregnant.
Based on a survey of 1,777 women in
the rural Nyanza province in Kenya, the study found that just 44 percent of
mothers delivered their babies in clinics. The fear of HIV testing was a major
obstacle to clinic use, researchers discovered.
A review of multiple studies in many
countries published in July by the same author of the Kenya study, Janet M.
Turan, revealed similar findings. Turan is a professor of public health at the
University of Alabama—Birmingham.
Women may know that treatment helps
them and their babies, but still avoid testing, according to the research. Many
fear if they test HIV-positive their husbands would kick them out of the house.
One woman said her neighbors would assume she was a prostitute.
The worldwide review described
stigma the women had experienced, even from health professionals. One Mexican
woman, for example, said a doctor asked, “How can you even think of getting
pregnant knowing you will kill your child because you’re positive?” The doctor
threatened not to see her again if she became pregnant, said the woman.
The Kenyan government’s campaign to
get women to visit clinics may have accidentally backfired by implying that it
was especially important for HIV-infected mothers. About 84 percent of women of
childbearing age in the province studied were not infected, the report said.
The new study, “The Role of
HIV-Related Stigma in Utilization of Skilled Childbirth Services in Rural
Kenya: A Prospective Mixed-Methods Study,” was published in Public Library of
Science Medicine (2012;9(8):e1001295).
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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