
I cannot
tell you how I contracted HIV, but I had a brief fling with a pupil in my
secondary school in 2009 when I was 17.
“The brief s*xual relationship got me
pregnant. When I checked my HIV status during my ante-natal registration, I was
confirmed positive.”
Those were
the words of Mrs. Grace Brume, 22-year-old HIV patient, expecting her second
baby at the Amassoma General Hospital, Amassoma, Bayelsa State.
Grace is
one of the HIV patients that are undergoing a special programme at the AGH
christened, ‘Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission’.
The PMCT,
an initiative of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS and other
collaborating organisations, is meant to reduce the viral loads so that the
transmission of mother-to-child is prevented.
Grace’s
husband, Fyneface, has assumed the foster father of Grace’s first baby,
PraiseGod, whose biological father, had since disappeared.
Our
correspondent was on the entourage of NACA and the Bayelsa State Agency for the
Control of AIDS which visited select general hospitals in the state, including
AGH.
At AGH,
our correspondent met Grace, who had hidden her HIV positive status from family
members, including her husband, four years after.
PUNCH
Metro had enquired from Grace how her husband, Fyneface, was treating her
considering her challenge, she said, “I did not tell him that I am HIV
positive. No one knows that I am HIV-positive except an aunt. Even my husband
does not know. I have hidden my status from him since I tested positive.
“I would
have told my husband, but the aunt said I should not. My aunt keeps encouraging
me that those who have HIV will not die and that there are drugs they take to
keep alive. Interestingly, my husband is negative.”
Grace said
each time she and her husband wanted to have s*x, she usually convinced him
(Fyneface) to use condoms.
“My husband used to kick against it each
time I gave him condoms to use. I told him I was asthmatic and I did not want
to get pregnant often. As a result, he agreed to be using condoms even though
he did not like it.
“When we wanted to have the second baby, he
did it without condoms. Still, my husband is negative.”
She said
her resolve not to tell anybody was because of stigmatization which most HIV
patients usually suffer.
Grace said
her first child born to the “rascally schoolboy” was HIV-negative. She said
Praise-God was in the Kindergarten class in a private school, stressing that
when she was tested after 18 months of birth, there was no single trace of HIV
in her (Praise-God).
She
commended NACA, SACA and other organisations for helping to ensure that HIV
patients have respite in the country.
Grace said, “My advice for pregnant women
is for them to go to hospital to their HIV status. If they are positive, they
should start taking their drugs to avoid the baby being infected.
“The
ART drugs are working very well. I almost committed suicide five years ago when
I tested positive to HIV. I was told that I was pregnant and had HIV. It was as
if the entire world was crashing on my head. I went to tell my aunt about the
development. She advised that I hid the result from everybody so that I would
not have psychological problems.”
“The ART drugs are working very well. I
almost committed suicide five years ago when I tested positive to HIV. I was
told that I was pregnant and had HIV. It was as if the entire world was
crashing on my head. I went to tell my aunt about the development. She advised
that I hid the result from everybody so that I would not have psychological
problems.”
The ART
Focal Person at AGH, Dr. Yomi Ibiye-Constance, said with the PMCT, it was
possible for a HIV-positive mother to give birth to a HIV-negative child. He
said the hospital had recorded 20 of such cases.
Yomi said, “We commence pregnant mother on HIV
drugs as early as possible and this drug has been known to effectively reduce
the viral loads and so the transmission of mother to child is taken care of
with the drugs.
Head,
Corporate Communications, NACA, Mr. Shola Idris, said the visits to the hospitals
were part of the agency’s measures to check the success of PMCT/ART.
Source:
Punch Nigeria
No comments:
Post a Comment