The other striking finding was that people who anticipated having HIV were less likely to discuss HIV within their households, 70% less likely to refer other family members for testing at the TB clinic (p = <0.01) and 53% less likely to refer them for testing at home (p =< 0.05).
Furthermore household members of index patients who tested HIV positive were 54% less likely to accept VCT (voluntary counselling and testing) than household members of patients who tested negative, and 78% less likely if the index patient had been tested at home.
The researchers suggest that this is not because HIV was explicitly discussed in households with an HIV-positive member, and people were afraid to test, but rather the opposite: the stigma of HIV meant that HIV testing was less likely to be discussed and normalised in households both where someone did have HIV, and in households where someone did not have HIV but feared they did.
The researchers conclude that “community-level interventions are needed to mitigate the effects of HIV stigma” in order to improve VCT rates and address a situation where the very people more likely to have HIV are those less likely to take a test.
Reference
Charlebois E et al. Impact of anticipated and actual HIV status on referral and acceptance of household testing in Kampala, Uganda. 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, San Francisco, abstract 1008, 2010.
Source: Aidsmap