Battle against stigma won, then lost
Mpho Maswikila | Friday April 3, 2015 11:25
Fiona Lekgetlho is HIV positive and committed to being a model for others in the fight against the disease’s spread in Botswana.
She is grateful for the amount of education given to Batswana about the disease over the years as it has reduced stigmatisation and discrimination against those infected. Fiona, however, says there is a new, closer type of stigmatisation.
“My concern is not about the people who discriminate and stigmatise against those living with HIV,” she says. “I am concerned about people who have not made peace with themselves and accepted their positive status.
“These people make their lives very difficult and sour as if being HIV positive is the end of everything.” According to the young woman, many HIV patients arm themselves with all manner of devices and tricks to disguise their status. These people, she says, are unaware the public stigmatisation has been sliding for decades and the worst of the battle is over.
With a national HIV prevalence rate of 25 percent within those aged 15 to 49 and some towns with rates of nearly 50 percent, the virus is far too common to still be fodder for stigmatisation or discrimination. Every family, workplace, community, has individuals infected with the disease and the spread of Antiretroviral therapy means many patients are living healthily for longer.
Still, that has not helped some ‘self-stigmatisers’, Fiona notes.
“Self-stigmatisation is usually revealed by the lies that people will often tell when they have to take their pills,” she explains. “Instead of someone just asking for water to drink their pills, they will go about trying to explain what the pills are, what they are taking them for. “They will commonly say they are taking high blood pressure pills, but if you look closer, you will find ARVs. “If you are taking your ARVs, you owe no one an explanation. Why try so hard to convince those around you or be apologetic to them.” Another common occasion for self-stigmatisation to rear its head is at family meetings.
“I have witnessed in family meetings, people who are positive thinking that everyone knows their status and behaving strangely,” she says.
“Some shake hands with the left hand or pull their chairs far away and sit alone even though no one has said anything to them.
“This is a sure sign of self-stigmatisation.”
Fiona believes low-self esteem lies at the heart of self-stigmatisation, and she encourages fellow patients to embrace their statuses and work towards a better outlook on life. “When I was HIV negative, I did negative things but since I became HIV positive I am doing positive things. I am even a Christian.
“The most important thing is to take my ARVs well as per the prescription from the health workers, eat well and surround myself with positivity as well as lead a normal life to the fullest.”
Self-stigmatisation is not harmless, Fiona notes. It is a form of denial where an HIV positive person has not dealt healthily with the changes necessary in their life and the need to continue on to a safer, healthier future. She notes that some young people even avoid testing for the virus because they believe knowing one’s status results in depression.
“The most dangerous thing of all is living without knowing your HIV status,” she says.
“You will be a danger not only to yourself, but a threat to the lives of others, from your sexual partners to your family who have a risk of dying.” The young woman advises her peers to maintain consistent and correct condom use and says information on HIV/AIDS should not be sought on social media. “Parents should talk to their children about sexuality and teenage pregnancies. If they don’t, someone, somewhere will and that could be from social media, friends and others, who give misinformation. “Information should come from the parents who have their child’s best interests at heart.”
To her fellow patients, Fiona says: “Being positive is not a curse from God hence one can always live a normal life regardless. Continue taking care of yourselves and do the things you love, knowing that you have a future ahead. HIV should not stop what you have ahead of you”.
It certainly will not stop the young woman who plans to tie the knot with her sweetheart this September.