Disclosing HIV status to HIV positive children before adolescence.

This literature review aims to explore the importance of disclosing HIV status to HIV positive children before they reach adolescence. Since the use of paediatric highly active antiretroviral therapy, many HIV positive children are now surviving into adulthood. This faces parents and healthcare workers with the difficult process of disclosing HIV status to children. A review of the literature has revealed discussions of the following themes: barriers to HIV disclosure before adolescence; disclosure as a process, rather than a one-off event; and the benefits of and need for HIV disclosure before adolescence. Parental beliefs and anxieties were found to be the main barrier to HIV disclosure and this needs to be addressed through education and governmental policies (Department of Health (DH), 2007). HIV disclosure before adolescence is vital, as a lack of communication about HIV creates confusion and mistrust, harms psychosocial development, compromises the child's right to autonomy and increases the risk of uknowingly transmitting the disease.