December 1 - Melody A. O

 

"You won't believe what I saw this afternoon!" Bolanle said.

"What did you see this time?" I replied.

I could already see the signs of impending gossip which was indicated in her dramatic exclamation. Bolanle was one of the interns under my supervision at the pharmacy. Interns usually were not so bold to chat with the department head, but Bolanle was my bestie's younger sister and the time she used to spend hanging out with us had imbued her with familiarity even the workplace couldn't cure. 

“I was helping Dr Andrews fill out a prescription for Jason Fashola.”

“Who is that?” I wondered aloud.

“That fine boy I told you about. The one that sings in the choir. But that's not the gist sef. It's what the prescription was for.”

I wondered again to myself who this Jason was. Bola was always having a weekly crush on someone and it was difficult to keep track of them all. 

“What was it for?” I asked with no interest whatsoever. I wanted her to get back to work as soon as possible. 

With as much theatrics she could muster, she declared “Anti-retroviral drugs!”

“Emmm…so?” 

When she didn't see the response she expected, she tried again.

“Isn't that for HIV?” she asked.

I decided to make this a teaching opportunity.

“Yes, it is. When an HIV infection occurs, if the person is not placed on Anti Retroviral Treatment (ART) /drugs and enrolled into care the infection with time develops into AIDS which is more deadly. AIDS, as you already know, makes one susceptible to opportunistic infections that take advantage of the already weak immune system. It takes time for HIV to develop into AIDS.”

“Ah! That's how my crush has been crushed. I will be giving him space in choir practice from now on.” She declared assertively. 

“You don't need to do that,” I replied. I decided to explain further.

“See ehn, For people living with HIV, it is not easy to take drugs every day but we can make it easier by not stigmatizing the disease. Now imagine you found out someone you know has or he/she disclosed to you he has malaria, what is usually the first question we ask or do? Well, it's to ensure the person gets treated or if on treatment ensure they follow their regime and we keep checking to make sure they are okay, shey?” I asked.

“Emm, yes.” She answered.

 “Well HIV is in no comparison to malaria, it cannot be cured but it can be well managed. They are both diseases that require treatment, one being short term and the other for life. So rather than fussing about when you get to know someone's status and stigmatize (don’t get me wrong it is important to know your HIV status at all times ), why not check up on them, encourage them to take their drugs, ask about their welfare, check on them often. This goes a long way because for people living with HIV if they adhere to their treatment/regime they become virally suppressed (the stage at which the virus becomes dormant and can no longer be transmitted). They become just like normal healthy people the only difference is they take drugs daily. If stigmatization is removed it creates a better environment for people living with HIV. Truthfully some of them skip their drugs because they are scared to take it where others are because of stigmatization attached to it but hey no one is scared to say they have a headache and take paracetamol or pain relief in public so why can’t it be the same for people living with HIV.” 

“But wait o! But how can someone as handsome as that have HIV. He is a Christian na and he doesn't look sick at all!” she replied incredulously.

“Well,” I said, “ People living with HIV come from all works of life in Nigeria; doctors, lawyers, drivers, market men/women, bankers, students, nurses, rich, poor and so on. For those that follow their regime trust me you will never know of their status if they don’t tell you . They are pretty amazing people living with HIV. I have met some myself.”

I could see understanding dawn on her face.

To lighten the mood I punched her playfully on her arm. 

“Cheer up jare! Here's a fun fact: Everyone probably has met someone living with HIV/AIDS or knows someone living with HIV/AIDS but isn't aware of the person' status.”

“Ehen, why were you helping Dr Andrews fill out prescriptions? Don't you know he's old enough to be my boyfriend and not yours?” I teased.

December 1st. World AIDS Day

HIV in plain terms is a viral infection that attacks and weakens the Immune system and White Blood Cells(WBC) of a person.

As at 2019 1.7million persons were infected with HIV and 38 million people are living with HIV and 690,000 people have died of AIDS-related illness worldwide. Nigeria has the second-largest people living with HIV in the world about 3.4 million persons. Now out of this 3.4million persons living with HIV, only 34% of adults with HIV are aware of their status. The statistics of people living with HIV is further broken down into age groups and sex.

So today December 1(World AIDS Day ) here are a few things you can do;

Attend an event

Find a testing location.

Take an HIV test.

Show support for people living with HIV or affected by it.

Read more information on HIV/AIDS.

The next time you see someone taking a strange pill and you maybe googled it and found out it was HIV drugs rather than avoid the person, try encouraging the person and give support to achieve viral suppression (the stage HIV becomes dormant).