Last week there was an unfortunate report of a bride-to-be from Usar area of Kwande local government area of Benue State who was allegedly found dead due to hanging and widely attributed to her confirmed HIV status. According to the reports a test conducted on her and the groom-to-be after the incidence confirmed the disease status which many claimed was responsible for the lady taking her own life. It was believed that she took her life on knowing she had AIDS. If the AIDS status account is true then it is indeed saddening as life is sacred and every human being is valuable before man and God. In other climes such unusual deaths are inquired into and probed using diverse parameters including health as in this instance, to unravel the cause in order to enlighten the populace and prevent a recurrence of such unfortunate incidents in the future which justifies this piece.
More worrisome is the fact that those afflicted with AIDS in our society are treated as an anathema due to the stigma attached to the disease. Hence the assertion that most AIDS victims die more often from the stigma than the disease itself. This is so because most people and communities attribute it exclusively to a nemesis for promiscuity and therefore very shameful disease without recourse to the other means of the transmission of the virus through unscreened blood transfusion, multiple interpersonal uses of unsterilized needles, blades, clippers and knives. This poor knowledge about AIDS often leads to and heightens the stigma attached to the disease.
At one time Benue State was ranked high among the incidence of AIDS which was repudiated by the indigenes as an exaggeration but over time it believably and statistically lowered down. If indeed the lady from Usar in Benue State committed suicide due to her HIV status, it may be due to illiteracy, poverty, ignorance, or a combination of the factors in relation to the stigma attached to the disease. Interestingly, the groom-to-be also tested positive.
This status does not mean reaching the end of road for the lady at all. Without castigating the dead, illiteracy whether formal or informal could limit understanding and acceptability of the knowledge about AIDS. In contrast the literacy level among the youths in Benue is one of the highest in the north and the country in general. Therefore for couples contemplating marriage, it is expected that they must have been fully aware of some facts about basic sex education including the fact that even after contracting the dreaded virus, there are anti-retroviral drugs that are given free of charge in most hospitals across the country to keep the viral load low and hold secondary infections at bay. Therefore the fear of poverty as a reason to be unable to manage the scourge does not arise as the drugs are often dispensed free in most government and private hospitals.
The fear of once infected through confirmatory test results that a death sentence has been passed on one does not arise as it can be managed and so there is hope in post-infection state. Moreover with research well-funded by diverse benefactors, there is hope about a cure in the future for this dreaded disease.
There are reports of people living long into old age without any threat to their lives once they abide by the recommended dosages in their treatment here and in the developed world. However, ignorance to the disease could pose a serious impediment to understanding it. For instance, most people still erroneously believe that it can be transmitted through hand shake, witchcraft, eating together, mono-transmission route through sex only and the air that we breathe.
While this death from Usar in Benue is unfortunate, it serves as a wakeup call for the Benue government and indeed other states in the country to increase the tempo of public enlightenment about the disease and remove all impediments to access to the drugs. State AIDS Control Agencies (SACAs), non-governmental organizations and all stakeholders must do more to increase the knowledge of the disease and its management to the people. Such avoidable deaths need not be tolerated at all.
Emmanuel Tyokumbur Department of Zoology University of Ibadan 07041466464 (Text only)
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