RE: HIV PATIENTS: SUFFERING WITH STIGMA

[Guest guest]

Dr. Abubakar,

I am glad you took time to explain what our brothers and sisters who have

HIV/AIDS go through in regard to stigma and discrimination of AIDS.

It is indeed very bad to stigmatize or discriminate someone because of

HIV/AIDS. Though majority of our people know that is bad, stigma remains a

very common practice in every community in the world.

It is worse in Africa simply because not many people have been reached with

intensive education on HIV Science. The majority, if not all Africans, are

just aware of HIV/AIDS. It is either they heard on radio, a friend or

burried someone due to AIDS etc. This kind of awareness has misled the

policy makers and researchers to rate countries as being 90% or so AIDS

aware.

It is surprising to hear " HIV/AIDS experts " in countries tell you that there

is no need of more training because most people have had more than enough

training in HIV science. Generally, they are right to say that because take

any country in Africa and try to ascertain how many HIV/AIDS trainings have

been conducted say in one year. One will be overwhelmed by the number of

such trainings. But go further to evaluate how much of basic HIV/AIDS

information is known in any given community. You will be amazed by the level

of ignorance on HIV/AIDS among the community members. Dr., it is therefore

not something peculiar to find a nurse fearing to touch an AIDS patient. She

fears because deep in heart, she knows that she will catch it there and

then. It is a shame to haer of such at this time - 20 years with the

epidemic! What is the missing link then? Today, most researchers and AIDS

field workers may still be holding on the myth that one being highly

knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS facts does not mean much in as far as

influencing the desired behavior change in this very individual is

concerned. This is dangerous. Research after research is being conducted all

over Africa to establish why the infection continues to make a dent in our

population. There is need to re focus our research too. We do not need these

sophiscated researches. We just need to take what has been successful in

countries like Uganda, Zambia, Senegal and others and replicate it in other

countries with much caution on the cultural competency. Lack of or

inefficient and unappropriate information on HIV/AIDS is killing Africa

today. In fact, I have come to a conclusion that Ignorance about HIV/AIDS

facts has infected and killed more Africans than the AIDS disease itself!

So how does this relate to stigma and discrimination of PLWAs? Ignorance on

how one gets HIV/AIDS and how not to get it, has created fear in communities

resulting into stigma and discrimination of PLWAs. Once these facts are

articulated to communities, I am very confident that this big animal 'Stigma

and discrimination' will have no place in our communities; families,

Churches, Mosques, Schools,government institutions to mention just a few.

I am hesitant to support the idea of holding big conferences for religious

and govt. officials to tell them how they are stigmatizing the people they

are supposed to protect. Instead we should target them for HIV science. Once

they know the facts about HIV/AIDS, their attitude to HIV/AIDS will

positively change, their language and actions will be affected

automatically. They will eventually embrace the PLWAs compationately and

without fear of being infected. Being a clergy, who gained from what I am

advocating for for my fellow leaders, I know the value of this kind of

knowledge. Knowledge is power. Without it one is powerless!

Conferences on stigma and discrimination look flowery but I am not sure of

how they are or are going to lead to the imapact we are focusing on. Knowing

that I am stigmatizing people is one thing and practising what I have failed

to do when I do not have supportive knowledge and skills is another. I wish

we focused all these funds ear marked for stigma and dicrimination, to

intensive HIV science training instead!

If this makes sense, I appeal to Dr. Piot(UNAIDS) and other policy

level officials, to really re-define and re- focus the whole

strategy on fighting stigma and discrimination in Africa and elsewhere in

the world.

Dr. Abubakar, as long as we still command a lot of ignorance on HIV science

in our communities, be sure to see more and more of such behaviors even

among the Health Workers.

Thank you for your contribution.

Rev.Evatt Mugarura

>From: Chifu2222@...

>Reply-AIDS treatments

>AIDS treatments

>Subject: HIV PATIENTS: SUFFERING WITH STIGMA

>Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 18:17:07 -0000

>

>HIV PATIENTS: SUFFERING WITH STIGMA

>By Dr. Abubakar Ali Shehi

>[ZARIA]

>shehiali@...

>

>

>

>

>Another world AIDS day is just around the corner and the theme for

>this year celebration is Stigma and discrimination among HIV

>patients.

>

>

>

> This is a very appropriate topic around this time when despite the

>global awareness worldwide on this all important pandemic, patients

>still live in a society that discriminates and stigmatize against

>them.

>

>

>

>

>

>This discrimination surprisingly comes from all angles be it

>relatives, immediate friends and even close confidants who the

>patient would have ordinarily depended upon for both psychological

>and even physical support.

>

>

>

>As a medical practitioner who daily sees both HIV patients and

>various stages of full blown AIDS patients, I notice and hear from

>patients and relatives alike various forms of questions and behaviour

>towards AIDS patients.

>

>

>

>It is a daily occurrence for a patient relative to ask me; can I

>contact AIDS by touching a patient? Can I contact AIDS by shaking

>hands, hugging or breathing the same air with an AIDS patients?

>

>

>

>Last week in the clinic a patient relative asked me to screen him

>because he slept in the same room with a patient unknowingly and

>mosquitoes have bitten him and the patient as well so must have

>contacted the disease!

>

>Some of these questions range from the reasonable, curious to the

>outright ridiculous.

>

>I sat down and wondered whose fault it is for this stigma and

>discrimination. Is it the health workers fault for lack of awareness

>on the methods of transmission for this disease or is it the fault of

>the general public for their deep-rooted skepticism about the

>existence of the disease itself.

>

>

>

>I reached a final conclusion that it is a collective fault of all

>because I had an encounter with a nurse in my hospital who refused to

>dress a HIV patient wound because she is afraid of contacting the

>disease, and at the same time an educated relative of a patient

>refused to visit him for fear of contacting the disease.

>

>

>

>I believe both the local authorities and the international community

>should use this worlds AIDS Day to bring to the fore, the stress of

>AIDS patients as they are both discriminated in all walks of life

>like job opportunities, job promotions as well as the right to lead a

>happy and normal or near-normal life as their disease permits.

>

>The WHO should make it a policy in their campaign against this

>disease and at the national level governments would do well to

>increase awareness not only on the methods of contacting the disease,

>but also on the methods by which the disease can NOT be contracted.

>

>Here in Nigeria , local laws should be enacted to make it illegal for

>any organisation be it private or public to discriminate against HIV

>patients in terms of employment, promotion or segregation at the work

>place.

>

>Living with HIV infection or AIDS alone takes a toll on the patient

>both physically and psychologically, this should not be compounded by

>living in a hostile environment starting from the family to the

>community and the larger society.

>

>We need to re-orient our attitude to a positive and optimistic one

>towards these patients knowing fully well that in this era of what I

>call unfortunate HIV infection whereby many of these patients

>contacted this disease innocently, these include children of infected

>mothers, wives of infected husbands or vice versa, patients in an

>emergency situation who are carelessly given HIV infected blood

>especially here in developing countries with poor screening methods

>and lack of facilities for blood storage.

>

>We need to know that any of us could be a victim in this pandemic

>era, we need to give love to those patients as we give love to

>patients suffering from malaria, tuberculosis or hepatitis which are

>more contagious than HIV infection.

>

>Once a patient is diagnosed as having HIV infection or AIDS, due to

>lack of cure for this disease compared to other more contagious

>diseases, he or she is condemned to being a living corpse and

>stigmatized against, therefore awareness should be paramount.

>

>This is a society where patients with debilitating diseases find it

>hard to be integrated into society as a form of rehabilitation. Now a

>disease with no cure presently like AIDS will condemn the patient to

>a life of doom, misery and depression which will lead to early death

>and abnormal presentations which doctors may find hard to

>differentiate from the normal complicated symptoms HIV patients

>present with.

>

>This is wishing the world a happy and patients friendly world AIDS

>day.

>

>

>

>Dr. Abubakar Ali Shehi

>

>Haj. Gambo Sawaba Gen. Hospital

>

>Zaria .

>

>

_________________________________________________________________

Have fun customizing MSN Messenger — learn how here!

http://www.msnmessenger-download.com/tracking/reach_customize