HIV positive, born again and smiling; women ahead of men

OPINION

According to a TASO and Uganda AIDS commission report 2018, of the people living with HIV who are on Anti Retroviral Drugs, the proportion is highest among women, well above 70%, while the proportions are much lower for men at 56%.

Men have generally not been keen on testing for HIV or starting on Anti Retroviral Therapy.

In fact according to a presidential Handbook June 2017 entitled Presidential Fast Track Initiative on Ending HIV and AIDS in Uganda, it specifies that 45% of HIV infected men have not yet been diagonized and 48% of men known to be HIV positive have not been initiated on treatment.

Sadly, perhaps as a consequence, the report says 14, 348 men died of HIV illnesses in 2017.

The biggest problem for men seems to arise from their failure to be man enough to own up the disease and to fight it head on.

Instead what we see is men shying away from testing for HIV even when they know that they have been involved in risky sexual behavior.

In some cases, men who have tested for HIV, choose not ‘to die alone' and continue having multiple sex partners.

In my eight years as bishop of Ankole Diocese, I have come across three women, one girl and only one man, born again Christians of the Church of Uganda, living with HIV and publically acknowledging the disease.

Another key factor about the five is that they are all taking Anti Retro-viral Drugs (ARVs) and for the uneducated they refer to them as RVs!

The power of Christian witness and overcoming of the desires of the flesh through testimonies (Revelation 12:11) of the five Christians who are living with HIV has been evident.

Public testimony as one of the tenets of Abarokore of the East African Revival Movement is a tool that has contributed to promoting abstinence from sex before marriage, faithfulness in marriage and chastity in widowhood.

The taking of ARVs instead of relying on faith alone has been another significant tool in addressing HIV/AIDS in the Church of Uganda.

While Christians have been taught to believe in miracles as God cannot be restricted to what he can do, unguided preaching that Jesus Christ heals all with HIV/ AIDS and that there is no place of ARVs in the theology of the Church has been discouraged and condemned.

One of the tools that has been used to promote abstinence from sex till marriage, faithfulness in marriage and for some chastity in widowhood is the use of TV West Church of Uganda Anglican Half Hour programme every Sunday at 9.30pm to show case testimonies of people who have overcome stigma and are successfully living with HIV.

One of the lead surviving woman living with HIV is Kwarisiima Edreda, a lay evangelist, who got saved in 1988 but sadly lost his husband to HIV/AIDS in 1991. Edreda attests to the fact that her husband died of HIV/AIDS at a time before proper diagnosis of the disease and treatment was adequate.

She said, ‘My husband died when he had kisipi, diahorea, TB and all other signs.' Edreda confirmed her HIV positive staus in 1993 when doctors from Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital visited Ntungamo at the Catholic Social Centre and from then onwards she was advised to start on septrin.

It was not until 2003 that Edreda started on ARVs at Itojo hospital and since then has periodically been testing for HIV including most recently in Sept 2018 when she had come to Mbarara for TV recording of her testimony and I advised her to go for testing too.

Amazingly for the first time, they gave her results to show that she was HIV negative! Similarly, Bariyo Monica who is a mission coordinator for Nyakatookye in Ibanda and has lived with HIV for the last 27 years testified on TV west that despite being on ARVs as advised by doctors, her test results now show that she is HIV negative!

The medical advice is that even when diagnosed as negative the Virus temporarily hides but can reappear when one abandons the ARVs.

Bariyo Monic lost her husband too in 1991 and he left her with seven children including one of another woman. Monica has raised and educated all the children.

Monica got saved in 1993, started on ARVs in 2006 and has since been a champion of positive living, a preacher of the word of God and a counsellor of people living with HIV/AIDS.

For those seeking her counselling services she advises clients to ask for directions by saying am looking for ‘Omukazi orikutuura nakakooko ka Slim' literally meaning ‘A woman who stays with the HIV virus.'

Another woman who has been living with HIV virus and publically acknowledging it as she preaches the word of God is the Mothers Union president of Kibuba sub-parish church in Bujaga arch-deaconry.

Mrs Maani Monica has been living with HIV for the last 18 years. Although her husband died in 2001, she started on septrin before later graduating to ARVs.

Interestingly, despite having been born again and desisting from sex since her husband died, she was sweet talked into having sex in 2010 following advice of a medic in Ntungamo who cautioned that the only way to address fibroids was by having sex!

The vulnerable woman further sought advice from a priest, who in my view failed to probe the doctor's advice and just advised her to comply.

Alas, the woman gave in to a man she did not know much about and in process got a child.

While being interviewed on TV and being asked how she now got the man, she said, ‘Manya abasheija nibatushaba nobuturwiire' meaning ‘Men keep coming and asking us for sex even when we publically say we are HIV positive!'

After the incident she went back to her life of sexual abstinence and raising her children.

The fourth female is a young beautiful girl of about 30 years, Baure Annet Kengoro, a secondary school drop-out.

The uniqueness of this girl, who is living with HIV, is that she does not blame any man for her woes, instead with her characteristic smile says she is the female version of the prodigual son since she had disobeyed her parents, abandoned school and went on a sex spree and living a reckless life of moving from town to town in western Uganda.

Annet mainly worked at pool tables and I think her beauty was meant to bring in clients.

Following my sermon at All Saints Church, Mbarara in 2014, she walked up among those who accepted Jesus Christ and she was sobbing bitterly.

From then on, this young lady, who is currently employed by Ankole Diocese as presenter on Revival Radio, has been able to be positively transformed and to visit 38 secondary schools and over 100 congregations especially preaching to the youths about the danger of HIV and advising those who haven't tested to test and if found positive, to embark on ARVs as she is doing.

Annet first lived in denial of HIV since she got to know about her status in 2009 and quietly without medical advice started on septrin until 2013 when she was started on ARVs.

Annet's message of positive living with HIV has endeared many youths to strongly consider abstinence from sex, testing for HIV and looking towards faithfulness in marriage. I pray and hope one days she gets married too.

The only born again man living with HIV who publically acknowledges it, is a former Presidential Protection Unit soldier, Corporal Rwashande who has lived with HIV for 21 years.

In 1999, Rwashande lost his wife to HIV/AIDS and lived a single life of abstinence till 2010 when he identified an HIV positive woman who was willing to get married to him.

While visiting me in my office, Rwashande's time of taking ARVs clocked and he took his drugs in the middle of our conversation, a sign of exceptional discipline!

The moral of this story is that women have stood tall in the fight against HIV/AIDS by owning up the HIV virus and testifying about the power of the blood of Jesus Christ to overcome the flesh whilst also attesting to the fact that modern medicine is part of the equation that can lead to a healthier life, after all, medicine is part of God's design since God said, ‘Let us make man in our image and let him have dominion over all on earth' (Gen 1:26).

Men, on the other hand, have lagged behind in testing for HIV and starting on drugs, which in turn leads to ill health and eventually death.

Rt. Rev. Dr. Fred Sheldon Mwesigwa (P hd.)

Bishop Ankole Diocese