Elias G. Konyana

Making Voluntary Counselling and Testing Worthwhile: Advocacy for Spousal / Family Notification in the Fight Against Hiv / Aids Among Couples in Zimbabwe Elias G. Konyana

The fight against HIV/AIDS among African populations has been an uphill task owing to the adoption and application of the Western-style principle of confidentiality/privacy in dealing with the epidemic. While institutions such as Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) centres assist with HIV diagnosis, they are not doing enough to help in fighting HIV/AIDS, especially among couples in African marriages. This book seeks to boldly challenge the confidentiality/privacy principle, which VCT centres so religiously uphold when it comes to disclosure, as prima facie. The book argues that the principle has little relevance in most African communities where disease and sickness are regarded as family matters needing the involvement of all members from diagnosis through recovery or death. The book therefore advocates for an approach that involves the participation of spouse or family members, beginning with sharing the results of an HIV test with the patient if the fight against HIV/AIDS among couples is to succeed. This strategy, the author maintains, will benefit the infected, affected and the community at large.