Table 2.
Additional quotes from participants, Ethiopia*
| Beliefs and constructs about transmission and prevention |
| HIV comes from God |
| “God will not let this to happen to his children, rather, these things happen because of our misbehavior.” (FG1, staff, HIV-/Unknown) |
| “It is just of gift of God. Some kind of sin. They think that way in the countryside.” (FG4, staff, HIV- /Unknown) |
| “In rural areas people think that HIV is God's punishment and those PLWHA are under the punishment of God.” (FG4, staff, HIV-/Unknown) |
| “This disease is comes from the Gods without any reason.” (FG4, staff, HIV-/Unknown) |
| “Spouses may be tested for HIV and negative, but because of ‘curse’ one of them may get HIV and it happened to me like that.” (FG8, non-staff, HIV+) |
| HIV and other transmission |
| “Those who do not care about themselves and experience bad habits like ‘chewing chat,’ drinking alcohol, smoking.” (FG5, non-staff, HIV-/Unknown) |
| “They think that the condom can transmit [disease] in some cases.” (FG3, staff, HIV-/Unknown) |
| “The youth do not control themselves. However, HIV does not discriminate among Muslim and Christian. Youth and Old. Nowadays the youths are seen in the street. It is the workforce that is victim. The prostitutes do use condoms. But the husbands, especially the drivers, bring HIV to their spouse.” (FG12, non-staff, HIV+) |
| Community pressures and stigma about treatment and community knowledge and perceptions about treatment and cures |
| Stigma and isolation |
| “People afraid of stigma. Because of that, they do not want to take the medicine.” (FG2, staff, HIV- /Unknown) |
| “Because of fear of stigma, people do not want to tell their [HIV] status to their family or spouse, and it is difficult to take the treatment daily hiding from your family [when] you are living together.” (FG2, staff, HIV-/Unknown) |
| “We are hiding our selves. If they know our status, our relation with our friends will be broken and you will be hurt… It happened to me, my family doesn't want me and I am lonely and I have to hide myself.” (FG8, non-staff, HIV+) |
| “We were told by our parents that we shouldn't touch anything used by [my brother] and he was sleeping and eating alone because we [thought] the disease might be transmitted through breathing… now I am changed and I know …ways of transmission… and I regret for what we did to my brother.” (FG2, staff, HIV-/Unknown) |
| Repercussions to taking medication/disclosure |
| “One of the daughters of the owner of the house saw me while I was taking my medicine and she told her parents and they kicked me off their house.” (FG8, non-staff, HIV+) |
| “Even if you are healthy you may not get job opportunity because of your status.” (FG9, non-staff, HIV+) |
| “People living in rented house do face problems. Those who live in public house lead better life. When we get food aid from kebele and take it home they say ‘Leave our home.’ They think if we touch the water tap and the like, HIV can be transmitted. [This] can [cause] difficulty to get rental house.” (FG12, non-staff, HIV+) |
| Holy water: treatment vs. cure |
| “The basic thing is your internal faith on God. I know people who get cured by holy water. They were tested 3–4 times and they become negative.” (FG14, non-staff, HIV+) |
| “I heard the treatment helps to live healthy and longer, only it is not curative but the holy water can cure HIV.” (FG2, staff, HIV-/Unknown) |
| “If you want to use holy water just the holy water only – we learn it from spiritual fathers at church.” (FG11, non-staff, HIV-/Unknown) |
| “If you believe [in holy water] you will be cured. I know many people cured who were using holy water.” (FG1, staff, HIV-/Unknown) |
| “Because they asked God to cure them [if taking only holy water, they can get cured.” (FG11, non-staff, HIV-/Unknown) |
| “I heard it through media/newsletter that religious fathers have allowed people to take treatment with holy water.” (FG9, non-staff, HIV+) |
| “Yes, they tell us to take the medication with Holy Water and tell us even the treatment is given by God.” (FG9, non-staff, HIV+) |
| Sources of information about HIV |
| Church and religious leaders |
| “Religion is one of the ways of prevention of HIV transmission. Now many young people are becoming religious and this is good opportunity to teach them about HIV. So spiritual institutions are playing great role in prevention of HIV.” (FG5, non-staff, HIV-/Unknown) |
| “Spiritual fathers are medicine. Like physicians they can give advice and help you to understand things that you don't know and this restores your life.” (FG14, non-staff, HIV+) |
| Community programs |
| “Through media, at kebele community conversation programs, and training… Media, meetings, radio, and TV.” (FG12, non-staff, HIV+) |
| “Mainly the media and also through kebele and local associations, community based. In the early time, the messages delivered through media were fearful, but now it is changed. They teach us how to live positively with HIV.” (FG14, non-staff, HIV+) |
*
HIV = human immunodeficiency virus; FG = focus group; PLWHA = people living with HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.