UN AIDS BLAMES FAMILY AGAIN

Post Courier 16 November 2020 Grace Auka Salmang

There were reports in the media on the infection of 50,000 people with HIV/AIDS with only 3500 on ART medication. 

That leaves a massive 47,000 people not yet on ART and moving towards an AIDS death with dementia, weight loss, memory loss, hallucinations and delusions.

Dr Shepherd Machekera is rather vague on the causes but refers to stigma and other issues with families. UNAIDS has been anti-family since the days of Stewart Watson. Please tell Watson that fruit and vegetables do not kill. He makes UN AIDS look foolish.

With such a massive loss of ART treatment the PLWHIV must have a range of reasons for discontinuing their ART treatment that are only part of the family issues. 

There is the lock-down of Covid 19, domestic violence, sufferers in the highland too far from care centres, families with no money for public transport, roads and bridges washed away, rascols holding up cars on the road and houses burned down by rogue attackers with ART bottles destroyed.

There may be problems in families when the husband was infected after adultery. A young girl has robbed her family of bride price now she can not marry. A son can not proceed in studies. There are broken marriages with remaining parent in poverty.

There needs to be a reappraisal of the distribution of ART throughout the highlands areas that are far distant from hospitals and care centres. China used to have bare foot doctors.

Some PLWHA are foolish and think that because they feel well on ART they can discontinue and life will go on. But it does not. They suffer the onset of AIDS and move on to death.