Many formal organisations hold yearly gatherings of their members to commemorate their existence and to bring together their members for a common goal.
Many members of these organisations look forward to these gatherings with lots of anticipation and nostalgia as they look forward to reconnecting with their friends with whom they may have met at previous such conferences or congresses.
Similarly the World AIDS Day is another such annual gathering meant to bring together people living with HIV from different parts of individual countries throughout the world. WAD in short is a worldwide event which is celebrated throughout the world every year on December 1 since 1988.
World AIDS Day celebrations are a very important event in the lives of all those living with HIV and even those without because it gives hope and that sense of recognition in a world that was so full of stigma and discrimination. WAD is also a platform where we are told about achievements and challenges met throughout the previous year and where plans for the ensuing year are made known to the general public.
This year’s theme of “Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response” is a timeous theme considering that like any other program, HIV is a big issue hence bound to face many challenges along the way. The way HIV was unpacked to the general public throughout the world brought with it much stigma and discrimination. The fact that no one wanted their HIV status known made the whole issue difficult to manage. There is still lots of fear, stigma and discrimination some 50 years after the first reported case of HIV. A deliberate effort should be taken to make people disclose their status freely and easily.
I have always insisted that the people who understand issues to do with HIV better are those living with HIV and these need to be listened to most. Their voice should be louder than the rest at WAD because they know how it feels like to be HIV and to live with HIV.I am happy that representatives of organisations to do with HIV are given platforms to speak at WADs. In every field there are experts or heroes, for example the soccer stars are not those who make soccer balls but players who do not even know how to mend a punctured soccer ball.
Similarly medical personnel and pharmacists make tablets and give prescriptions but those who use them are patients and it is these patients who know how to use these medicines better than those who manufacture and prescribe them. We have devised ways of how to deal with our issues that medical people may find very difficult to believe.
The HIV journey is a very intriguing adventure and one can imagine how those like me and many others managed to get this far when we tested HIV positive when ART was non existent or difficult to access but here we are telling the story of our lives. The HIV/AIDs story can be better understood if told by both the medical people and the HIV positive people themselves. Medical personnel are experts in their own and HIV positive people are experts in living with HIV and hence the two need each other.
Disruptions in the HIV/AIDs response caused by funding withdrawals by the USA President Donald Trump need to be addressed and people need assurance that there is no danger of medicines running out. This assurance need to be made at World AIDS Day commemorations to put people living with HIV’s minds to rest. Meanwhile, emphasis on disclosure should be made.
Piason Maringwa
+263774322043
