Factors Associated With Children’s HIV Positive Status Disclosure in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia: Cross-sectional Study

Abstract Background: Children HIV-positive status disclosure is an essential component of chronic care and long-term disease management. However, children HIV-positive status disclosure is complex and varies across different communities. Although data from different settings are necessary to overcome this problem, evidences are limited particularly in case of children HIV-positive status disclosure. Therefore, this study aims to assess the prevalence of HIV-positive status disclosure and associated factors among children on antiretroviral therapy.Methods: A facility based, mixed-method study was conducted among 203 care givers with children in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia. Structured questionnaire and in-depth interview guide was implemented to collect quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. Simple random sampling for quantitative and purposive sampling for qualitative parts was applied. Content or Thematic analysis for qualitative and Binary logistic regression was used for quantitative. Results: In this study, the overall prevalence of children HIV-positive status disclosure was found to be 46.8%. Age of the child >=12 years (AOR= 7.5, 95% CI: 2.9-15.6), duration on ART >=72 months (AOR= 3.8, 95% CI: 1.7-6.7), death of parent (AOR= 2.0, 95% CI: 1.1- 3.8), and types of health facilities (AOR= 2.1, 95% CI: 1.3-4.7) were associated with disclosure. Being immature child was the commonest reason of non-disclosure. Frequent questions by the child why they are taking drugs, for better self-care, and treatment adherence were the commonest reason of care givers to make decision for disclosing their children’s HIV positive status.Conclusion: Children’s HIV-positive status disclosure was low in this study. Health facility, children, and care givers related factors were mentioned as reason for disclosing or not-disclosing children’s HIV-positive status. Hence, health care workers should give especial attention for children HIV-positive status disclosure which helps to increase the effectiveness of treatment out-come and prevent further HIV transmission.