Stigma is the bigger issue here...

I read a post over at Chichi’s in the (2nd and 3rd paragraphs) about the Red ribbon she wore on world AIDS day.

In the post, a much older colleague of hers asks her why she’s “advertising” her status with the ribbon. By this, that guy obviously meant that by Chichi wearing the Red Ribbon symbolised her infection with HIV/AIDS and positive living. This is very astonishing coming from someone that lives in Uganda (a country that has fought the HIV/AIDS virus so hard that the scars will never go away.) This guy works for a humanitarian organisation that provides food and aid to people in need. Most of these people in need are HIV orphans and victims.

Being an employee of this organization alone should bring him into close proximity with HIV patients almost everyday. And he still asks why she is “advertising” her status? And given that this man is higher than her in both age and seniority makes it a disgusting thing that he said that. I’d understand if it came for a 15 year old. But him?

Stigma is the biggest obstacle in the success in the fight against AIDS in the world. Stigma is the open aggression towards HIV/ AIDS. It is what we called “Pointing fingers” way back when AIDS had just hit. Way back when every “thin” person, or anyone with a cough or fever was suspected of having “silim”/Slim". It is this that gave the sufferers that embarrassment they suffered when they learnt that they were infected with the virus. I learnt that when u point one finger at someone, the other 3 are pointing right back at u.

Further down in Chichi’s post, there is another female colleague of hers that says that “she can never be close to an HIV positive person.” I think this is very careless and ignorant of her. It borders on illiteracy. When we were children (about 9 yrs olds) we hid from our relatives that were thought to suffer from AIDS. Because we thought they would infect us if they touched us. That was then. HIV was not talked about then and we could be excused for our actions because we were very young then and we had not been educated about HIV. For someone to still speak of such in this day and age is short of stupid.

In the past decade, there has been a huge transformation. 2 decades ago, when people found out that they were infected, most of them took their own lives because they saw HIV/AIDS as a death sentence. Infected people were excommunicated and shunned by everybody, including their relations. Suicide was seen as a way out.

When the government of Uganda fought AIDS by fighting stigma, this was a well aimed arrow. These days, many “high” society people are living positively with HIV and are well known activists. An example is ActionAid’s Beatrice Were. HIV should no longer be seen as a curse of a death sentence. It should be seen as a manageable illness. Just like Asthma.

I still think that the fight against AIDS is one that will never end if we still have adults that think like 5 year olds in this era of sensitization.

- Cheri