JIJUE..FOR THE CHILDREN

It is what makes a difference between a terminal illness or an infection free life for your baby, yet, making that trip to the ante-natal clinic to do that all important test is still shunned by many Kenyan women and their men. Reason: taking the test means knowing your HIV status and if you’re found to be positive, well, you believe that it is all downhill from there.
It seems so 1990s to be talking about ‘stigma’ and the fear that ‘your life has come to an end’ when one finds out that they are HIV positive in 2011, especially when one looks at all the advances in medicine and the numerous campaigns to get people to go get tested, but the truth is: stigma is still stopping people form knowing their HIV status.
As a journalist who reports on HIV and AIDs, the main question that is posed to me by HIV+ persons is: “And what will my neighbors think when they see me on TV talking about my status? They will stop talking to me! I do not want to be isolated!”
Ask most Kenyans and they will tell you that all these campaigns about getting tested are well worth it, some will have even braved the counseling session of testing for HIV and even know their status but announce it at the rooftops? Never! They will prefer to get their daily dosage of ARV and do the clinic trips but in uttermost privacy, why? The Kenyan society is not yet ready to do away with stigma.
Now going with the above sentiments, add a baby, an innocent human being whose only fault was to be conceived by two adults who either never talked about using protection during sex or who knowingly knew their status and are on a revenge mission to spread it to as many people as possible or in the most likely case of a married couple, a spouse who has been unfaithful…the list is endless. You have spelled doom for that child and it could have been avoided if you just took the test.
So you are pregnant, you are frightened to death about finding out that you may be HIV positive, how will you handle it, what will they think of you in the office or at home? Can you handle the stares and backbiting? No! But think about it, you and your child HIV positive: going through the ARV lifestyle of timed drug intakes, a healthy nutrition diet and of course the stigma. And you never know, that child may grow up to finally give us the cure for HIV that we have been searching for years in vain and in this African setup, that child may be the one who will look after you when you become too frail.
Now let me talk to those of us who have never gone to take the test. Ok, so you are healthy, but for how long? What will happen to your children? Take a walk to Nyumbani Children’s Home and spend time with those children to get a clue about what it means to be an AIDS orphan. It is something you could have avoided for your children, yet, you are not ready to face the truth. The government and NGOs are spending a good chunk of their budget on HIV infected and affected persons without each of us having to add the burden.
Go get tested, if not for yourself, then for the child you are carrying or those children that you love.