Imabong committed suicide because of the rejection she
suffered as a result of her HIV status; isolated by her family, rejected by her
friends and treated like a leper at work was more than she could bear.
When I met Luke in February of 2007, he had not eaten for 2
days; dehydrated and completely emaciated, he could barely utter a word.
Abandoned to his fate in a one room apartment, Luke prayed for death but it
never came.
The commercial drivers he recruited to run his small
transport business moved to other cities with his buses leaving him with almost
nothing.
As humanity confronts the AIDS pandemic stigmatization,
misery and isolation appears to have taken center stage. While it is true that
about 90% of HIV infection occur via the sexual route this must never be misconstrued
for promiscuity. It is wrong to ascribe promiscuity to a woman who got infected
on her matrimonial bed, a victim of rape who tested positive, or a victim of
HIV infected blood transfusion. These people need love to overcome the fear,
anger and regret. They need our care and support to move on with life.
The stigmatization and the excruciating pains of social
alienation have compelled most victims to conceal their status while the
malevolent ones continue to distribute the virus free of charge to
Unsuspecting men and women. We must be willing to change our
attitude towards people living
with the virus if we are to make any meaningful progress in
curtailing the spread of the disease. If most of us won’t seat on the same
couch with someone who is infected, how do we expect other carriers to declare
their status? Our perceptions notwithstanding, these people are still part of
us and won’t disappear.
A planet without AIDS is possible, but to create that planet
we must do away with the vestiges of the old planet where testing positive to
the HIV virus effectively relegates an individual to the subclass of Human
society.
Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing
over and over but expecting a different result, we therefore need a new
direction if we must make any progress. While we must be bold enough to
confront the ills in the society that promotes the spread of the disease, we
must also remember that we ourselves are not perfect either.
Quote:
“HIV does not make people dangerous to know, so you can
shake
their hands and give them a hug: Heaven knows they need it”
—Princess Diana
SEX AND HIV, STIGMA ,HIV STIGMA CARE AND SUPPORT, HIV, AIDS,
HIVAIDS, DICRIMINATION, SEX, SEX EDUCATION, PANDEMIC
http://www.publichealth.com.ng/hivaids-what-is-hiv-symptoms-transmission-phases-diagnosis-treatment/
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