Abstract

TREJOS HERRERA, Ana María; TUESCA MOLINA, Rafael de Jesús  and  MOSQUERA VASQUEZ, Mario. Children Affected with HIV/AIDS: Use and access to Health Services in five colombian cities. Salud, Barranquilla [online]. 2011, vol.27, n.2, pp.171-184. ISSN 0120-5552.

Objective: To describe patterns of use and barriers to access to health services for children affected with HIV/AIDS living in Cali, Buenaventura, Barranquilla, Santa Marta and Cartagena. Materials and methods: 286 personal surveys conducted with 11 children who knew their HIV diagnosis and, 275 caregivers of children who did not know their HIV status of involvement. Using an instrument designed by the authors, a descriptive analysis and tabulation was performed of data and tabulation in SPSS, version 15, in Spanish. Results: [96.2% (n=275)] of the caregivers reported the delivery delay of diagnosis for fear of stigma if the child discloses the diagnosis inadvertently to other people and, to protect it from possible psychological damage that generates the news. A Pattern was found of frequent use of health service whose waiting time exceeds 30 minutes [53.8% (n=154)]. Most children do not receive home care [85.7% (n=245)]. Caregivers reported receiving health care respectfully and friendly [70.6% (n=259)], however, in the testimonies of focus groups in Buenaventura shows the lack of guarantee of a respectful and, to provide the necessary confidentiality regarding the diagnosis of HIV/AIDS. Discussion: Health services must overcome some obstacles to ensuring not only access to care, but also to increase the availability, fairness, integrity and quality from the perspective of rights and in order to benefit people living with HIV/AIDS for HIV / AIDS.

Keywords : hiv/aids; use of services and barriers to access.

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