PSA 2024 Call for Papers
In May 2025, the Privacy Symposium Africa launched its call for papers, inviting researchers to submit original studies under the theme “Redefining Privacy, Power, and Trust in Africa’s Digital Future”
Researchers from across Africa responded enthusiastically, contributing works that addressed pressing concerns in the digital landscape.
On November 28, 2025, the symposium showcased the best research paper.
The best original research papers as presented at the 2025 Edition of the Privacy Symposium Africa in Lagos, Nigeria.
POSITION
PAPER TITLE
1
DATA PRIVACY BREACHES: A GOVERNANCE OR A HUMAN BEHAVIOR PROBLEM IN HIV INDEX TESTING? - A paper by John Macharia, Timothy Wafula & Allan Maleche
Background: HIV index testing represents a critical strategy for identifying undiagnosed people with HIV through contact tracing of sexual partners and family members of known people living with HIV. However, privacy and confidentiality breaches during index testing pose significant barriers to HIV care engagement and public health outcomes. Research demonstrates that confidentiality violations prevent individuals from seeking timely HIV care, disclosing their status, and adhering to treatment protocols, ultimately undermining HIV prevention and control efforts. While evidence shows that maintaining privacy during service delivery significantly improves index case testing uptake, the underlying causes of privacy breaches remain unclear, with potential origins in both inadequate governance frameworks and problematic human behaviours among healthcare providers.
Objective: This study examines the question whether data breaches are a data governance issue or a human behavior issue in relation to HIV index testing among women living with HIV in Kisumu County, Kenya.
Methodology: This study employed a participatory action research design to examine privacy breaches in HIV index testing, establishing a Project Implementation Committee (PIC) comprising young women with lived experience in HIV services who were trained in qualitative research methods, ethical considerations, and confidentiality protocols. Data collection involved eight focus group discussions alongside 48 in-depth interviews with purposively selected adolescents and young women living with HIV. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify patterns related to governance failures versus human behavioral factors.
Findings: The findings highlight the significance of maintaining privacy and confidentiality in management of HIV including utilization of sexual and reproductive health services by young women. Despite the HIV index testing strategy being hailed for its ability to enhance testing and enrolment to ART, its implementation is riddled with significant gaps among them privacy breaches which result or amplify stigma, and discrimination. The participants underscored the benefit it accords them but had reservations on its implementation particularly failure to adhere to the consent procedures by the healthcare workers. Participants emphasized the need to train implementers on policies, particularly those involved in administering health services, to prevent situations where women encounter social and structural barriers—such as fear of rejection, financial constraints, and legal obstacles resulting from privacy breaches—that limit their ability to fully access and benefit from SRH services.
Implications: The study underscores the need for training of the health care workers on the tenets for the introduction and implementation of a policy to ensure that the reforms achieve their intended purpose. Understanding the inherent intersection of policy and human behavior ensures that reforms implemented improves health outcomes and empowers the targeted beneficiaries especially women living with HIV to exercise their reproductive rights fully.