Barriers to HIV Care and Treatment by Doctors: A review of the literature

Introduction: Over the last two decades acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has emerged as one of the most serious public health problems in the world, and by the end of 2003 it was estimated that 5.3 million South Africans were human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive, which corresponds to...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: P. Naidoo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AOSIS 2006-03-01
Series:South African Family Practice
Subjects:
Online Access:https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/513
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849234091603394560
author P. Naidoo
author_facet P. Naidoo
author_sort P. Naidoo
collection DOAJ
description Introduction: Over the last two decades acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has emerged as one of the most serious public health problems in the world, and by the end of 2003 it was estimated that 5.3 million South Africans were human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive, which corresponds to 21.5% of the population.1 In the early phase of the HIV epidemic few doctors saw infected patients and treatment options were limited. As a result many doctors were reluctant to provide care to HIV infected patients and homophobia amongst doctors, fear of contact with patients and unwillingness to care were frequently reported.2 However, there has been an exponential increase in the number of HIV and AIDS related cases and more doctors are encountering infected individuals. This review summarizes our current knowledge of barriers to treatment of HIV infected patients by doctors. Method: A comprehensive literature review was undertaken by searching the MEDLINE database, Psychlit, ISI Web, EBSCOHost, and Sabinet on line, for English language literature published between 1985 and 2004. The database search terms included keywords such as fear/s, barrier/s, concern, HIV, AIDS, attitudes, physician/s (doctor/s), practice, treatment, care and knowledge. A variety of combinations of these words were entered. All duplicate articles were removed and only studies that used doctors as the sample population were considered. Titles expressing comment, news items, opinion pieces or letters were rejected. Results: Thirty two relevant studies were identified from the literature search. The four most commonly reported barriers were: fear of contagion, fear of losing patients, unwillingness to care, and inadequate knowledge/training about treating HIV patients.
format Article
id doaj-art-358595e01ee74ca0ba52ddf41c3d8b15
institution Kabale University
issn 2078-6190
2078-6204
language English
publishDate 2006-03-01
publisher AOSIS
record_format Article
series South African Family Practice
spelling doaj-art-358595e01ee74ca0ba52ddf41c3d8b152025-08-20T04:03:17ZengAOSISSouth African Family Practice2078-61902078-62042006-03-0148210.1080/20786204.2006.10873343490Barriers to HIV Care and Treatment by Doctors: A review of the literatureP. Naidoo0University of KwaZulu-NatalIntroduction: Over the last two decades acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has emerged as one of the most serious public health problems in the world, and by the end of 2003 it was estimated that 5.3 million South Africans were human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive, which corresponds to 21.5% of the population.1 In the early phase of the HIV epidemic few doctors saw infected patients and treatment options were limited. As a result many doctors were reluctant to provide care to HIV infected patients and homophobia amongst doctors, fear of contact with patients and unwillingness to care were frequently reported.2 However, there has been an exponential increase in the number of HIV and AIDS related cases and more doctors are encountering infected individuals. This review summarizes our current knowledge of barriers to treatment of HIV infected patients by doctors. Method: A comprehensive literature review was undertaken by searching the MEDLINE database, Psychlit, ISI Web, EBSCOHost, and Sabinet on line, for English language literature published between 1985 and 2004. The database search terms included keywords such as fear/s, barrier/s, concern, HIV, AIDS, attitudes, physician/s (doctor/s), practice, treatment, care and knowledge. A variety of combinations of these words were entered. All duplicate articles were removed and only studies that used doctors as the sample population were considered. Titles expressing comment, news items, opinion pieces or letters were rejected. Results: Thirty two relevant studies were identified from the literature search. The four most commonly reported barriers were: fear of contagion, fear of losing patients, unwillingness to care, and inadequate knowledge/training about treating HIV patients.https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/513barriersfearknowledgedoctorslosing patients
spellingShingle P. Naidoo
Barriers to HIV Care and Treatment by Doctors: A review of the literature
South African Family Practice
barriers
fear
knowledge
doctors
losing patients
title Barriers to HIV Care and Treatment by Doctors: A review of the literature
title_full Barriers to HIV Care and Treatment by Doctors: A review of the literature
title_fullStr Barriers to HIV Care and Treatment by Doctors: A review of the literature
title_full_unstemmed Barriers to HIV Care and Treatment by Doctors: A review of the literature
title_short Barriers to HIV Care and Treatment by Doctors: A review of the literature
title_sort barriers to hiv care and treatment by doctors a review of the literature
topic barriers
fear
knowledge
doctors
losing patients
url https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/513
work_keys_str_mv AT pnaidoo barrierstohivcareandtreatmentbydoctorsareviewoftheliterature