Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26800890›Full record

ArticleBMC international health and human rights2016

Legal knowledge, needs, and assistance seeking among HIV positive and negative women in Umlazi, South Africa.

Lauren M Hill, Suzanne Maman, David Holness, Dhayendre Moodley

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC international health and human rights, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact, top 98% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Lauren M HillDepartment of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 331 Rosenau Hall, CB #7440, Chapel Hill, 27599, NC, USA. hilllm@email.unc.edu.
Suzanne MamanDepartment of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 331 Rosenau Hall, CB #7440, Chapel Hill, 27599, NC, USA.
David HolnessUniversity of KwaZulu-Natal Law Clinic, Durban, South Africa.
Dhayendre MoodleyDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.
University of KwaZulu-Natal · ZAUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · US

Funding

Training in Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIVT32AI007001 · NIAID · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI SENA-SOBERANO, ARLENE C. · 1985 to 2025
$10.9M
Efficacy of HIV Posttest Support for ANC in South AfricaR01HD050134 · NICHD · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI MAMAN, SUZANNE · 2006 to 2010
$2.8M
NIAID NIH HHS T32 AI007001NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD050134
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe rights of women and people living with HIV (PLHIV) are protected under South African law, yet there is a gap in the application of these laws. While there are numerous systemic and social barriers to women's and PLHIV's exercise of their legal rights and rights to access social services, there has been little effort to document these barriers as well as legal needs and knowledge in this context.

methods1480 HIV-positive and HIV-negative women recruited from an antenatal clinic in Umlazi Township completed a questionnaire on legal knowledge, experience of legal issues, assistance seeking for legal issues, and barriers to seeking assistance. We compared the legal knowledge and experience of legal issues of HIV-positive and HIV-negative women, and described assistance seeking and barriers to assistance seeking among all women.

resultsBoth HIV-positive and HIV-negative women had high levels of knowledge of their legal rights. There were few important differences in legal knowledge and experience of legal issues by HIV status. The most common legal issues women experienced were difficulty obtaining employment (11 %) and identification documents (7 %). A minority of women who had ever experienced a legal issue had sought assistance for this issue (38 %), and half (50 %) of assistance sought was from informal sources such as family and friends. Women cited lack of time and government bureaucracy as the major barriers to seeking assistance.

conclusionsThese results indicate few differences in legal knowledge and needs between HIV-positive and HIV-negative women in this context, but rather legal needs common among women of reproductive age. Legal knowledge may be a less important barrier to seeking assistance for legal issues than time, convenience, and cost. Expanding the power of customary courts to address routine legal issues, encouragement of pro bono legal assistance, and introduction of legal navigators could help to address these barriers.

Indexed as

HIV SeronegativityHIV SeropositivityJurisprudenceAdultEmploymentFemaleHuman RightsHumansSouth AfricaYoung Adult

Identifiers

PMID26800890
PMCPMC4722747
OpenAlexW2291998339

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.