HIV stigma must fall

Mmegi Editor | Monday October 25, 2021 06:00

She was speaking at Dramaboi’s memorial service held at Molapo Crossing in Gaborone and her words were met with mixed reactions.

A large section of the community felt she was wrong to have disclosed the cause of her son’s death. She even got insulted and threatened that she would be tried for doing so.

This was despite the fact that the society was already asking questions as to what was the cause of her son’s death. Humans always want to know what killed someone, even a person they do not know, but for a celebrity, if you do not disclose cause of death, rumours would not stop.

There were already rumours making rounds that Dramaboi committed suicide. Others suggested he overdosed drugs with some saying he was involved in a car accident.

Dramaboi’s bereaved mother ended up giving the public what it had longed for. However, the decision was not taken well by the public either, as she was roasted for publicly disclosing her late son’s HIV status ’without his consent.’ Many felt that since the star himself did not disclose his status to the public, his mother had no right to do so despite the fact that he had passed away.

This goes to show that despite strides made by the country over the years, Batswana are still hell-bent on stigmatising those living with HIV.

Dramaboi’s sister told mourners at the funeral that despite their efforts to try and get help for him, in most cases he declined the gestures. The deceased’s sister said his brother told them he was a celebrity and therefore did not want to be seen in public transport or at local clinics.

This further shows that stigma against those living with HIV comes with a huge cost including loss of live.

We would like to call on the Ministry of Health and Wellness and other stakeholders to take this as a wake up call. This should include providing more innovative ways of distributing Antiretroviral medication in such a way that all those who take it are comfortable. Public education efforts on the virus have visibly went down. It is high time that we take advantage of the social media and other platforms to drive the message home.

The most important message is that interventions are there for people to live healthy and for a long time with the virus. It is also important to educate the communities that when one partner is positive, the other and the children can be negative.

As to the nation at large, we should support each other and acknowledge how much damage stigmatising others and gossiping about them can do. The behaviour has cost us our Dramaboi as well as many other friends and family members.

Today's thought

This journey of education and breaking stigma around HIV is something that will have a legacy everlasting.

- Gareth Thomas