PSYCHOLOGICAL MORBIDITY AND HIV IN KENYA

This paper describes a cross-sectional study with subjects and raters blind to HIV status to assess psychiatric morbidity associated with HI V in a sample of working adults in Western Kenya. Subjects were recrui ted from an occupational health clinic for statutory annual health che cks of workers in the food industry. Psychiatric interviews and neurop sychological tests were conducted. Of 230 subjects, 34% were HIV posit ive. Women had a higher rate than men, and those who worked as bargirl s or were divorced, widowed or separated were particularly at risk. Th ere were no substantial differences in psychiatric morbidity or neurop sychological functioning between the HIV-positive and HIV-negative sub jects.