Malawi Insider (Blantyre)
Brian Ligomeka "Kudziwa za Moyo kuli bwino kusiyana ndi kusadziwa (Knowledge of your sero-status is better than being ignorant of it) goes an advertisement flighted by the Malawi AIDS Counselling and Resource Organisation (MACRO). The frequently aired article encourages people to go for HIV testing and counselling at centres that have mushroomed countrywide especially in urban areas in the past few years. To some, the advert sounds like good advice while others feel the advertisers themselves should get real and stop encouraging people to go for the frightening and life-changing HIV test. The differences in opinion could be emanating from the various experiences that people have gone through since the HIV/AIDS pandemic hit the country about 15 years ago. Most people have seen a relative or friend die painfully due to HIV/AIDS-related illnesses and such experiences have developed varying attitudes towards the pandemic. Worldwide, more than 40 million adults and children are living with HIV/AIDS and the crisis is more severe in Africa where the epidemic has reached staggering proportions, claiming 80 percent of all AIDS deaths worldwide. Malawi has one of the highest HIV-infected populations in Africa and statistics show that only 8 percent of the population is aware of its HIV status while 92 percent have not been tested. Some people choose to be ignorant of their status owing to the reaction engendered by HIV positivity while to others AIDS remains a mysterious disease that should not even be talked about. But to yet another segment of the population, the death of so many people from the HIV/AIDS-related illnesses has been a wake-up call to change their behaviour. They would want to know their HIV status to chart a new course in their lives. To most people, a positive result is literally a death knell and they immediately lose the will to survive. With others, a positive result entails substantial behavioural change, which most people do not want to face up to, and probably more painful is the fact that once tested positive, one has to face up to the shattering reality of a life terminated before the fulfilment of dreams. A random survey conducted by The Malawi Standard showed that the majority of people do not want to know their HIV status. Most argued that once someone tested positive, they would die prematurely. "In my case, I will never go for an HIV test no matter what. I have seen so many people who went to that test dying just months after testing positive because knowing you have the virus will psychologically kill you just like that," said Alfred Chanza of Kawale in Lilongwe. Most of the men interviewed said they had multiple sexual partners at some point in their lives and could have been exposed to the HIV virus then. For that reason they would not go for a test lest they came out positive. "Until recently, I was one guy who always had two or three partners even though I have been married for six years. I have changed my behaviour because I have seen many people die of AIDS but I will not go for an HIV test. All I am doing now is to live positively and for that I do not think I need to know my HIV status," says one journalist working for the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation. "The other problem is the trauma you go through once you know you are positive. I have seen people being discriminated against because they are suffering from Aids. It is so painful and I would not want to be treated like that," the journalist added. But a few of the people interviewed said they were confident of themselves and would go for the test. "In my case, I only had one girlfriend who later became my wife. We are both Christians and we have never been unfaithful to each other so even if I go for the test I know I will test negative," said Jones Kagwa of Zomba Municipality. Some people have also responded positively to the establishment of voluntary counselling and testing centres and have been going there to be tested. Dr Bizweck Mwale of the National AIDS Commission says the major problem is the stigma associated with the disease. "Stigma associated with the disease is really a problem. There is need for more public dialogue on the disease to remove the stigma," he said. Talking more about the disease would remove the negative perceptions associated with Aids. He said that most people are now working up to the severity of the disease. "To some extent, Malawians are waking up to the severity of HIV but more people should be encouraged to go for the tests," said Dr. Mwale. He dismissed the notion that people who tested positive died faster than those who were ignorant of their status. "People do not die any faster because they have tested positive. If anything, measures are taken to prolong both the quality and duration of their lives. "If people test positive they take measures to live longer and they will also stop infecting others, thus reducing the infection rate," he said. Some people were reluctant to go for tests because the test kits were said to produce wrong results in some instances. Commenting on the same issue, Chief Kuntaja of Lunzu in Blantyre Rural says the stigma associated with the disease is the major reason for people's reluctance to go for the tests. "Communities should start talking about HIV/AIDS openly and should embrace voluntary testing as a way of life like what people do when they visit clinics for general treatment," he said. "For as long as people do not talk about it, people will continue to be promiscuous, pretending they are negative when they may not be," Chief Kuntaja explained. He said if people knew their status they would protect themselves and their families against the harsh effects of the disease.  TORONTO
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