| Summary: | A quantitative, explorative, descriptive research approach was used to investigate why HIV
positive people have a problem with disclosing their status. The HIV infection spread is
increasing globally, nationally and locally and disclosing would help reduce the spread of
infection through preventive measures. Interviews were conducted with 106 respondents
at Kagiso primary health care clinics in the West Rand Health Region.
Reasons given by the respondents for non-disclosure of the HIV status were:
discrimination, stigma to the HIV positive person and the family by the community,
isolation and rejection by the family members, discrimination and possible dismissal at the
workplace, fear of losing a partner. The findings illustrate that a large percentage of the
population know about HIV and its spread and know that by disclosing, one can get
support from health resources and family, but people will not make their status public
unless stigmatisation is addressed === Health Studies
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