Curbing stigma, discrimination vital in HIV/AIDS fight

By Simbarashe Msasanuri
Tanzania will next week join the rest of the world in marking the World Aids Day where humanity gets the chance to remember those who succumbed to the disease while at the same time looking at successes and failures in trying to mitigate the social anomaly.
It is unfortunate that up to now, a lasting solution remains elusive for the world and people continue to perish like poisoned cockroaches. It is saddening that behavioural change among people is subtle as many people continue to engage in reckless behavior.  It is an open secret that the world’s oldest profession remains popular and a lucrative business in this country despite the presence of the dreaded disease.
The situation in drinking joints and other places such as bars and brothels is not encouraging at all. A visit to these places reveals a sorry state of affairs where the gains in the fight against the pandemic seem to be reversed.
The state of affairs has forced the Tanga District Commissioner, Halima Dendegu, to launch a crackdown against commercial sex workers in the city this week. This according to her is meant to make sure that Tanga residents uphold moral values and at the same time reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.
The coming in of the dread HIV/Aids seems to have brought with it confusion to humanity. This has seen many people doing or saying absurd things about the virus that a normal thinking person will never dare. The problem of mystifying HIV/AIDS has contributed to the stigma and discrimination those who contracted the disease are facing.
So many people have been segregated, chased out of their lodgings or lost their jobs simply because they contracted HIV. It is a shame that stigma and discrimination continue to rear its ugly head at a time where the whole globe is supposed to unite in fighting a common enemy.
It is high time we deal with stigma and discrimination. There is no need to segregate those living with the virus because no one is immune to it. The problem with those people who segregate others is that they are living in darkness, they have never gone for an HIV test and they simply don't know their status. In most cases, it is a matter of a pot calling another pot black. Gone are the days of thinking that someone with the virus is an outcast especially if we do not know our status.
This leads to many people going into self denial when they later get tested and find out that they are HIV positive. I know of many people, including my relatives, who ended up dying, denying that they had the virus despite the doctors having told them so. They sought solace in witchcraft as they spent their fortune and time going around consulting traditional healers, who in most cases tell them what they want to hear. They are told that they had been bewitched by their relatives who are jealous of their progress in life. What a shame!
I think it is high time we demystify this disease and begin treating it like any other. We know that it is compulsory, in some countries, for children to undergo immunization against the five killer diseases such as polio, typhoid, measles and so on then why can't it be compulsory for HIV.
The secrecy surrounding the disease is the one that is killing us. If testing could be made compulsory and made mandatory that the results are not secretive as they are now, then all the mystery surrounding HIV will disappear and in the long run, will be treated as any other disease where people will be open about it. I believe that the reason we have a lot of stigma and discrimination is the fact that AIDS has been mystified and is viewed as taboo.
 Governments, throughout the world, especially in Africa should put in place laws compelling men and women to first of all get tested before getting married. Many lives could be saved that way as many people will get into their marriages knowing the status of their loved ones. This will then make them take precautionary measures and avoid infecting each other.
 A lot of ground still has to be covered in as far as fighting this disease is concerned. It only takes us to change the perception we have of the disease.
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