HIV is one of the most stigmatized diseases globally but
people actually do not know that it is far better than many collective diseases
out there. The stigmatization and discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS
has made the disease excessively
dreaded living with. People actually equate an
HIV carrier as being promiscuous or someone with bad habits, victim blaming is
very common with the society. However, the virus itself is no longer terrifying
to professionals working in the field but the societal perception and attitudes
towards the infection makes it very scary.
When HIV is managed properly, one can live life with it to the fullest
without anyone discerning you even had the disease at the first place
Before we go further lets educate ourselves with some
interesting facts about HIV/AIDS
HIV stands for Human
immunodeficiency Virus. AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome; AIDS is the advanced form of
HIV which actually kills.
What HIV does is to damage your immune system interfering
with your body’s ability to fight the organism that causes diseases. The immune
system is like a great defence army of soldiers inform of cells that fight
against invading enemies in your body in this case, organisms that causes
disease. HIV goes straight to those soldiers defending your body from diseases,
kill or weaken them thereby allowing diseases to freely enter your body
HIV can be contacted by
• Re-using
and sharing sharp instruments such as razor blades, needles, clippers
• Unprotected
sex
• Blood
transfusion from infected person
• Vertical
transfusion (usually from mother to child)
HIV cannot be transmitted from sweat, saliva, tears, but
through other body fluids such as blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breast milk
It cannot be contacted by sitting on the same chair or
simply shaking hands with an infected person. Mosquito bites do not transmits
HIV/AIDS
Sneezing and coughing or sharing a glass cup with an
infected person do not transmit the virus
Anti-retroviral drugs (ARDs) help to reduce viral load
thereby boosting one’s (infected person) immune system thus prolonging one’s
life
ARDs are not paid for in hospitals and they contain high
immune boosters
HIV is one of the global most stigmatized diseases .It’s a
disease that comes with social stigma that makes sufferers want to hide their
status.
There are currently progress in the management and cure of
HIV/AIDS but these are kept silence from public access because of concerns that
when they are let out, people will no longer take heed to health and safety
measures against the disease
DISEASES WORSE THAN HIV/AIDS
People dying of HIV/AIDS recently are very rare. This is
because of improvement in many anti-retroviral drugs that help to cope with the
disease or cure it totally. Therefore it is very hard to argue that HIV/AIDS is
a killer disease in this century. However, people still die every day from
other infections and these are the ones that have defied medical solutions and
have led to major death and patients suffering over the years. These are the
diseases we tag worse than HIV/AIDS
HIV is better than these ailments that are managed with
drugs such as diabetes, sickle cell anemia, Liver and kidney problems,
cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, cancer etc. This is because
although one has to be placed on drugs on daily bases but if one adheres to it
relentlessly he/she will live life to the fullest
For example, diagnosis for type 2 Diabetes is considered
worse than HIV because people with it are more likely to have kidney filtering
system which can lead to kidney failure, the risk of stroke doubles that of the
overall population, people with it are very prone to have cardiovascular
diseases. It damages delicate vessels in the eye which is a leading cause of
blindness, persistent foot wounds and ulcers etc. but with HIV there are very
few problems provided you take your pills
HIV positive are free to eat whatever they want to eat
although counselled to take more vegetables and fruits unlike a diabetic
patient who has a lot of “don’t eats” such as yam, bread, etc. taking more
fruits and vegetables help to boost the immune system by some certain
percentage which can also help in reducing the viral loads
According to IARC, a part of World Health Organisation
(WHO), it has been discovered that Cancer kills more people in poor countries
than HIV, tuberculosis and malaria collectively. These poor sufferers not only
die but pass through financial difficulties and gruesome pains. Although Cancer
claims more victims than HIV in Africa, the stigma attached to it is very less
compared to HIV which one can manage. Because of societal perception; people
prefer to have cancer than the virus
Lung cancer alone is said to have killed 1.6m people
globally in 2012. HIV patients on anti-retroviral drugs are only dying of other
causes not the virus itself
WHAT ABOUT HUNGER??
It might be shocking to know that hunger kills many people
faster than HIV but because it is not a rich man’s problem it is neglected.
According to the state of food insecurity in the world 2015, each year hunger
kills more people than HIV, tuberculosis and malaria combined. According to
world food program (WFP), hunger kills 17,000 children per day while nearly 6m
children die of hunger every year. The estimate also shows that in every five
seconds a child dies of hunger while chronic hunger kills around 10 children in
every 60 seconds somewhere around the world
DO YOU ALSO KNOW THAT
·
HIV positive people are called clients not
patients in hospital
·
An HIV carrier can marry a negative person and
have children who are negative while the negative person still remains negative.
This is very possible (visit your hospital for more information)
·
An infected mother can give birth to a negative
new-born baby (ies) (visit your hospital for more information)
SO STOP STIGMATIZATION, LOVE AND SOCIALIZE WITH THAT PERSON
LIVING WITH HIV
SDG 2030 Zero Stigmatization loading, Stay stigma free, Love life
By Chinenye Aniekwe
A graduate of Health science at the university of Benin Nigeria.
Nice one there... very educative
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