HIV and AIDS, discovered about some 50 years ago continue to
take the lives of some people despite several efforts to manage the disease. Some
children have become vulnerable, and in need of care and protection because of
the death of either or both parents through AIDS. Few years ago, I shied away
from skinny people with the fear of being infected with the virus by such
persons. This preconceived notion came about as a result of how the disease was
portrayed some years back. Aside being termed ‘Deadly ’, some of us learnt from
school textbooks how ‘bonny’ and ‘dead-bound’ persons with AIDS were.
I strongly held on to my principle of alienation until the
death of a close relative when I got to know she had lived with AIDS for the
past five years. I never imagined I could be that close with the disease
without even knowing. My perception about HIV and AIDS changed from there.
However, I got to know through
this experience, how fast discrimination and stigmatization could make a person
with HIV/AIDS die. I realized that the relative might have stayed longer had it
not been the cold relationship meted out to her by family and friends.
As the
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon once said, ‘Stigma remains
the most important barrier to public action. It is a main reason why too many
people are afraid to see a doctor to determine whether they have the disease,
or to seek treatment if so. It helps make AIDS the silent killer, because
people fear the social disgrace of speaking about it, or taking easily
available precautions.”
As Ghana
prepares to join the global community in celebrating World AIDS Day, let us all
intensify our commitment in the response to HIV/AIDS prevention. Stakeholders,
including governments, the media, pressure groups, religious organizations and
individuals have a lead role to play in HIV/AIDS treatment, care and support at policy, strategy
programs, implementation as well as monitoring and evaluation levels.
We need
to own the process of solving AIDS-related problems and sustain the level of
progress being made in halting and reversing the spread of AIDS in our part of
the world.
Millennium
Development Goal 6 of the United Nations hopes to have halted by 2015 and begun
to reverse the spread of HIV and AIDS. Making this target see the light of day
means that we scale up all possible responses in order to address the
critical gaps in
prevention, treatment, care and support across sub-Saharan Africa where the
disease is reported to have affected many lives.
The theme for this year’s
celebration, “Getting to Zero” simply tells us that response to HIV and AIDS
prevention ‘is not over until it is over’. There is the need to intensify sensitization
programmes, revive peer educators clubs in schools and communities, and live
peaceably with all persons living with HIV and AIDS even beyond 1st
December.
For us as young people, I believe
the message is clear, ‘prevention is better than cure’. You are either infected
or affected. Let us all abstain, otherwise condoms should be used.
