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You should have seen me when I got HIV, I lived in fear and shame, I was embarrassed, says Dr Stephen Watiti an Icon in the fight against HIV.

“I was a Deacon at our church, I stopped going to church. I lost my wife then and I couldn’t even get into another relation. I told myself I don’t want to infect another person. I lived for almost 11 years in depression,” he says. Last year he celebrated 17 years in Marriage.

“Stigma is like darkness. But, when you have an enemy, a problem, you have to learn and act.”

Watiti says there is still ignorance when it comes to HIV.

“For years I was denied a scholarship to study abroad all because some countries don't entertain HIV positive visitors. I went public with my status so as to be rescued until the International University of East Africa (IUEA) gave me a scholarship, Ruth Namutebi Elizabeth wrote on her X platform.

Dr Waititi says stigma is based on myths and misconceptions about HIV.

Some of the common myth and misconception is that HIV is a death sentence, you can tell by looking if someone has HIV, people with HIV can't have children, and mosquitoes spread HIV.

Back in the days

When I first had about this disease around 1982, those who had it were associated to being sexually promiscuous. In the 1990s most of the affected were sex workers. It brought shame.

“People were asked to behave well so that they don’t get HIV,” says Watiti. “So when someone got HIV and they were good Christians or Muslims they would deny it. That was the beginning of stigma.”

“Having HIV is like having a difficult child, spouse or boss, but you have to learn to work with them. You know what works and what doesn’t work.

“There are young people who were born with HIV, did they behave badly? No.

“A woman or man who gets married and remains faithful but still gets infected with HIV by their unfaithful partner are they to blame? No.

“Once you know that you didn’t behave badly you can deal with stigma,” says Watiti

He says to avoid stigma, learn the facts about HIV and use it to your advantage.

For instance, when you know with good adherence to drugs you can live a normal life like anybody else, you cannot be stigmatized.

“If you see me today and many of my age mates, I look younger because I do what my doctor tells me.

“When you know these facts and know there is medicine for HIV, why should you be embarrassed, stigmatised? Asks Watiti.

“We also know when born with HIV or when you have HIV and happen to fall in love with someone who is without HIV, you can actually live together including having unprotected sex, have a normal life including having children without HIV.

“We know that when the viral load in the body is undetectable you cannot transmit it. So really we have everything to overcome, end the stigma,” he says.

He re-emphasised knowing the facts and not living in fear. “You can live a normal life,” he says.

“When you allow to be stigmatized you will be affected.”

Watiti says stigma fuels HIV infection but being open about the condition and learning its facts curbs the spread of HIV and allows those with the condition to live normal lives.

But don’t get carried away

We advise teenagers not to have sex, children should not be having sex, focus on other things like education, says Watiti.

“But when you grow up and want to have a relationship, do go for medical checkup. When positive get the facts about HIV, follow good practices and live a normal life, if you are negative do what is advised to avoid getting the virus,” he advises.

How wide-spread is HIV

According to a 2023 UNAIDS report there are 210,000 new HIV/AIDS infections among adolescents and young women globally accounting for 60% of all new infections in young people.

Of these 77% was in sub Saharan Africa with an estimated 3,100 new infections among adolescent girls and young women, every week.

In Uganda in 2022, there were 8,000 new infections among adolescents 10 to 19 years and 93% (7,400) of the new infections among girls. In 2022, about 22 adolescents acquired HIV/AIDS every day.

Escalating HIV

Stigma fuels the spread of HIV, says Watiti.

“For instance, when you test and you are positive, when you look at yourself in the mirror, you are okay and when you look at your life you haven’t behaved badly, then there is girl or boy who really likes you and is pursuing your love, because of fear of stigma, you are likely to keep quiet and get into the relationship without telling them you are positive because you don’t want them to refuse you because of the positive status.

“Or when you test positive and you are referred to a clinic to get medicine and you find your friend there, you say you only passed by to say hello, you don’t register to get the medicine, you can’t get treatment, you can’t also tell your boss or teacher that I have to go on this day to get medicine because of stigma.

“Stigma also causes people to be depressed, a lot of people living with HIV are in depression some even take the own lives,” says Watiti. But learning and having facts about HIV will stop the stigma.

How quickly can learning happen?

Learning is a process, the facts you get enable you to overcome internal stigma or self-stigma, says Watiti.

Self-stigma is one that makes you believe and say when you see people laughing ‘they are laughing at me,’ when you see people speaking in whispers you say ‘they must be talking about me,’ someone points and you say ‘they must be pointing at me’ even if they are pointing at another person.

“Once you overcome self-stigma, social stigma of HIV doesn’t affect you. People can’t stigmatize you unless you allow them to,” says Watiti.

The United Nations’ 95-95-95 targets to end the HIV epidemic by 2030. It aims to diagnose 95% of all HIV-positive individuals, provide antiretroviral therapy (ART) for 95% of those diagnosed and achieve viral suppression for 95% of those treated by 2030.