BUT WHY DO WE STILL SPEAK STIGMATIZATION? STOP IT!



NAME: UMBUKAH TITUS MBOYA
REG NO: CJMS-01-0312/2018
BUT WHY DO WE STILL SPEAK STIGMATIZATION? STOP IT! – By Titus Mboya
HIV/AIDS is not a vocabulary to me. I have heard this for as long as I can remember. Well, for unambiguity, I have heard HIV/AIDS since education stopped being subtle to me. It was taught in various stages of my schooling life and so much information was pumped into my head. I have to admit that I only paid attention predominantly to get good grades in my assessment tests. Why did you have to come across this topic annually even after you proceed to the next class? Why did you have to meet it in myriads of subjects both in primary and secondary school? Actually, recently I met with the same topic (now as a unit) in the university. I was surprised getting to read the timetable and coming across the unit. Well, perhaps in my course (Journalism and Media Studies) requires some information about it. I know in my line of work I will inevitably meet such people. But my introductory class in the unit I met students pursuing different disciplines such as banking finance. I wondered!
You would think that perhaps after it was declared a national disaster at Mombasa in November 1999 by the retired president Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi that’s why it requires a National approach with inclusion of teaching in different stages of schooling, I affirm that is a reason. But it is not always about the knowledge but the attitude. Stigmatization is real. Families of the infected and the affected are suffering. Ways through which they are stigmatized are not subtle to you; as a matter of fact some of you practice them. What happens to these people? How do they feel? According to Global Information and Education on HIV/AIDS sourced from UNAIDS Data 2017, in 2016, Kenya:
a.      1.6 million People were living HIV/AIDS.
b.      There was 5.4% adults HIV prevalence.
c.       62,000 New HIV Infection
d.      36,000 Aids related deaths
e.      64% Adults were on Antiretroviral treatment
f.        65% Children were on Antiretroviral treatment
With facts provided above, most of them are stemmed from stigmatization.
It is clear that 35% of the people (both adults and children) have not been on antiretroviral drugs. A bigger percentage of deaths from AIDS are due to lack of treatment. Stories of how they the infected are looked at while at the queues at the picking point in their local dispensing hospitals and how they are served at the hospital are all over. The infected have to pick the ARV drugs when the hospitals have fewer patients or at night because of the fear. The fears that come along with discrimination makes some of the infected people not to pick the drug and seek medical services hence the death.
Violence against the infected is intense. The infected have been attacked physically through slaps and being pushed around upon breaking the sad new to the family or instances when the affected feel nagged with their endless needs. They also have been denied conjugal rights and they partners become promiscuous. Infidelity is not a new term to them. They have been forced to have sex with virgins and witches/wizards hoping to get them cured – (a myth they practice due to lack of knowledge). Property and Children have been taken away from them and kicked out of their homes. They have been restricted from seeking medical services as well as blamed for the family economic misfortunes.  
As I culminate, I will not speak on what we should do to these infected and affected but if at all you ever find yourself in such a situation, a situation where you are diseased with an incurable disease, how would you want to be handled? As cliché as it sounds, you never know it feels unless you experience. Get more knowledge and change the attitude. Let us stop stigmatization!  And for People Living with HIV/AIDS, Aluta continua…

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