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| Stop the discrimination! |
The pieces are gathered and dumped at a corner. This pot was formally useful and beautiful in all its glory.
This is a typical HIV/AIDS analogy in Nigeria.
IN AFRICA, HIV/AIDS IS A DEATH SENTENCE!
People stigmatize and discriminate against HIV patients in blood curling ways.
These carriers become shadows of their former selves, hiding and waiting for death to come.
Among others, there is a singular story of a middle aged woman that caught the virus.
Prior to the leak of her health status, she was robust, able to get to her drugs herself, moved and engaged with people freely. She was productive.
The story changed when her family found her out.
She was abandoned to die with no form of support. With the spread of the news in her small ignorant village, she was avoided like an outcast and was forced into loneliness.
WE ALL NEED ONE ANOTHER
That was when her real problem started.
With no financial and emotional support from family, she started depreciating.
Due to the Stigma, she became very reluctant to go the hospital for her anti retro-viral therapy and this invariably led to total break down of her health in little time.
Once, she reportedly stole from a nearby farm because she was hungry and tired. She lost every hope and before long she died.
There is another tale of members of the civil service being tested for HIV/AIDS in a public auditorium without any form of privacy or secrecy .
The pressure alone on the persons being tested could be very lethal.
EVERY LIFE IS IMPORTANT
Treat every human life with dignity and respect. If there are sick people around you, show them love.
And you dear reader, stay safe. Prevention is the best and only cure.
Always remember, no life is small.
Do you have any similar stories concerning stigma against positive patients?
Let us know in the comments section below!
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