The Perspectives of Parents/Caregivers on HIV Disclosure for Adolescents in Bamenda Health District in the North West Region of Cameroon.

Abstract

Introduction: The number of children born to HIV positive women is on the rise, however, most of these adolescents are taking medications for HIV without knowing that they have HIV. Parents are the heads of the basic unit of the society (family). Generally, these parents /caregivers find it difficult to initiate disclosure for their children as they do not know the best or right time to initiate it,  for fear that the children are not yet matured enough to handle the issues of HIV disclosure. Objective: To analyze parents’ perspectives on the disclosure of HIV status to adolescents that are on antiretroviral therapy in the Bamenda 1 Health District.  Methods: this study was a cross-sectional study carried out from September 2023 to December 2023 in the Bamenda 1 Health District. The target population was made up of   100 parents/caregivers of adolescents on ART in 6 different sampled health areas.  Data was collected with the use of questionnaires. It was analyzed using SPSS. Results: Even though the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines says that disclosure should be done at 12 years, most parents/ caregivers prefer to disclose at later ages between 15 to 21 years. Some of the factors that delay disclosure are; fear of the reactions of the children after disclosure, lack of skills and knowledge on how go about it and also the belief that the child is not mature enough to handle the information on disclosure. Conclusion: parents /caregivers know that it is good to tell the child about his or hers condition but fear of the unknown holds them back. There is therefore a need for the health workers to support these parents/caregivers even as to be able to achieve timely disclosure.