Stigma hindering fight against HIV/AIDS

Sixteen-year-old Patricia is known to be a jovial, beautiful and outgoing young girl; everyone she meets would wish to spend more time with her to share the joy.

However, behind her smile, is a story of neglect and rejection by people she calls her own.

Patricia, not her real name, was born with HIV; she grew up like any other child despite a few medical challenges.

She lived with her single mother in Eldoret until she turned 9 when her mother met a man who wanted to marry her, but with one condition; that Patricia would be sent back to her father.

Her mother chose to marry her new-found love and for the few days she stayed with Patricia, she introduced her as her younger sister anytime visitors would call on them – to keep her relationship.

After protracted discomfort, the young girl left for her maternal grandmother’s home back in Kisii County where she lived with her grandparents and for a moment felt a sense of belonging.

One day while Patricia was tilling her grandparent’s land together with her grandmother, she accidentally cut her toe with a jembe, without proper attention, the wound festered.

Upon opening school – since the accident happened over the December holiday, the wound had gotten worse until a teacher advised her to go to a health facility for a tetanus injection.

It was at Gucha Sub County Hospital where Patricia had gone for treatment that she learnt of her status, worry and panic engulfed her, leaving her grandmother tongue tied, when one of the nurses at the facility broke the news that the young girl was HIV positive. She was 13 then.

This marked the beginning of tribulations in Patricia’s life that came as a result of stigma since her grandmother set aside utensils for her for fear that she might transmit AIDS to the rest of the family members.

Back at school, when her peers and teachers learnt of her status, they made fun of her and kept distance, a situation that affected Patricia’s performance in school. She was later transferred to several schools.

According to the National Aids Control Council, (NACC), Kenya loses 14 people aged between 15 and 24 years daily from HIV related complications, thanks to the stigma associated with HIV and AIDS, that makes the adolescents and the young people to shy away from life saving medication, yet 98 of the people within the same age group are infected with HIV AIDS every day, further hindering the fight against the disease.

In the 2015 HIV estimates, there were 72,000 new HIV infections of which 46 percent were among adolescents and young people aged between 15 to 24 years.

Nairobi County has the highest number of adolescents living with HIV, at 49,904, followed by Homa Bay County with 46,530 and Kisumu comes in third with 37,110 followed by Siaya at 33,810.

According to the data from NACC, 51 percent of adolescents and young people do not know their HIV status, a figure that raises more concern to those combating HIV infection.

In Kisii County where Patricia resides, HIV prevalence has dropped from 8.9 percent to 4.7 percent with 1 percent being the adolescents.

However, 30 percent of the new HIV infections – according to the county HIV coordinator Mr Richard Onkare – come from the adolescents, with stigma right from home to school being blamed by stake holders as the main reason behind the spread since those affected neither open up nor seek medication and as a result end up affecting others, leading to the high HIV prevalence among the young people in the new HIV cases.