HIV in your own bed: Avoid friendly fire
Nov 27, 2009
LOVE, intimacy and sex are a solemn celebration of spiritual fulfilment. They are best done within a marriage setting. But unfortunately, HIV has raided that altar of connection and, according to statistics, new infections are highest among the married.
BY HILARY BAINEMIGISHA
LOVE, intimacy and sex are a solemn celebration of spiritual fulfilment. They are best done within a marriage setting. But unfortunately, HIV has raided that altar of connection and, according to statistics, new infections are highest among the married.
Many HIV-negative married people are living with partners who are HIV-positive (discordance) and it is a matter of time before they too become infected. That is why the Government launched the “Go Together, Know Togetherâ€, a couple HIV testing campaign to encourage couples to go test together and avoid getting HIV from friendly fire. When your partner is positive and you are negative, it becomes an opportunity to stay negative and look after Beloved as well as the children.
During the launch, the health minister, Dr Stephen Mallinga and his wife were the first couple to test as torch bearers. AIDS Information Centre (AIC) tested 151 couples and Uganda Cares, 124. Only 11 people were positive at both centres.
How many?
AIC estimates that about 650,000 Ugandans are unknowingly living with HIV-positive partners. Almost 85,000 of these will be infected by the end of this year if nothing is done.
A study by Rebecca Bunnell and colleagues of couples in Uganda last December discovered nine out of every 10 couples did not know the HIV status of their partners. Married couples are expected to have unprotected sex regularly and expose each other to possible infection. Yet the risk of acquiring HIV is as high as 10-12% per year if you continue having unprotected sex with HIV infected partners. Another study by Uganda AIDS Commission suggests that 43% of new infections occurred among married couples in 2007 and the majority were among those living with HIV-infected partners.
It is, therefore, important that you know your HIV status as a couple and if you are discordant, you get empowered to protect one another. Go together, test together and learn together the best way to protect each other and your children, if you are discordant. It is wrong to imagine that once your partner tests positive, you are automatically positive.
Challenges
However, according to Dr. Michael Etukoit of The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO), couples are still afraid of testing together. He mentions fear of being seen as a traitor, violence against the positive partner, divorce, stigma and the children factor. “If you are their stepmother and test HIV-positive, they could accuse you of infecting their father with the virus.â€
There is also witch hunting in polygamous settings. “There may be a quarrel about who brought HIV into the marriage of four wives and a husband,†he added.
Lynda Birungi, a counsellor at Medical Research Council, says the whole process needs delicate management. “It is important to agree with your partner that even if one of you is positive, it is not the end of the world.
“Many coerce their partners into testing, for instance, after suspecting their partners of infidelity.â€
She adds that some partners, when found positive, are physically abused, blamed, neglected and become the topic of community gossip. In some cases, positive men force wives into unprotected sex.â€
Children
A study in Kisumu, Kenya, found that discordant couples go on to conceive despite their HIV status. Dr. Sara Brubaker studied 532 HIV-discordant couples and discovered that while condom use increases soon after the couple has learnt of their discordance, many eventually drop them and 20% to 43% have unprotected sex. By the end of the study, 41 (7.6%) of the uninfected partners got HIV.
This behaviour is often motivated by the desire to have children. This urge increases when the couple is young, has few or no previous children and has access to antiretroviral treatment (ART).
A new beginning
Next week is World AIDS Day. The slogan is Access is my right, testing my responsibility. As a couple, the greatest Christmas gift you can give each other is to go for an HIV test together.
Continue using protection regardless of the results until you do a confirmatory test after three months
If both of you are negative, repeat this test at least once every year. If one of you is positive even after the second test, practice safe sex and help each other to maintain the status.
LOVE, intimacy and sex are a solemn celebration of spiritual fulfilment. They are best done within a marriage setting. But unfortunately, HIV has raided that altar of connection and, according to statistics, new infections are highest among the married.
Many HIV-negative married people are living with partners who are HIV-positive (discordance) and it is a matter of time before they too become infected. That is why the Government launched the “Go Together, Know Togetherâ€, a couple HIV testing campaign to encourage couples to go test together and avoid getting HIV from friendly fire. When your partner is positive and you are negative, it becomes an opportunity to stay negative and look after Beloved as well as the children.
During the launch, the health minister, Dr Stephen Mallinga and his wife were the first couple to test as torch bearers. AIDS Information Centre (AIC) tested 151 couples and Uganda Cares, 124. Only 11 people were positive at both centres.
How many?
AIC estimates that about 650,000 Ugandans are unknowingly living with HIV-positive partners. Almost 85,000 of these will be infected by the end of this year if nothing is done.
A study by Rebecca Bunnell and colleagues of couples in Uganda last December discovered nine out of every 10 couples did not know the HIV status of their partners. Married couples are expected to have unprotected sex regularly and expose each other to possible infection. Yet the risk of acquiring HIV is as high as 10-12% per year if you continue having unprotected sex with HIV infected partners. Another study by Uganda AIDS Commission suggests that 43% of new infections occurred among married couples in 2007 and the majority were among those living with HIV-infected partners.
It is, therefore, important that you know your HIV status as a couple and if you are discordant, you get empowered to protect one another. Go together, test together and learn together the best way to protect each other and your children, if you are discordant. It is wrong to imagine that once your partner tests positive, you are automatically positive.
Challenges
However, according to Dr. Michael Etukoit of The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO), couples are still afraid of testing together. He mentions fear of being seen as a traitor, violence against the positive partner, divorce, stigma and the children factor. “If you are their stepmother and test HIV-positive, they could accuse you of infecting their father with the virus.â€
There is also witch hunting in polygamous settings. “There may be a quarrel about who brought HIV into the marriage of four wives and a husband,†he added.
Lynda Birungi, a counsellor at Medical Research Council, says the whole process needs delicate management. “It is important to agree with your partner that even if one of you is positive, it is not the end of the world.
“Many coerce their partners into testing, for instance, after suspecting their partners of infidelity.â€
She adds that some partners, when found positive, are physically abused, blamed, neglected and become the topic of community gossip. In some cases, positive men force wives into unprotected sex.â€
Children
A study in Kisumu, Kenya, found that discordant couples go on to conceive despite their HIV status. Dr. Sara Brubaker studied 532 HIV-discordant couples and discovered that while condom use increases soon after the couple has learnt of their discordance, many eventually drop them and 20% to 43% have unprotected sex. By the end of the study, 41 (7.6%) of the uninfected partners got HIV.
This behaviour is often motivated by the desire to have children. This urge increases when the couple is young, has few or no previous children and has access to antiretroviral treatment (ART).
A new beginning
Next week is World AIDS Day. The slogan is Access is my right, testing my responsibility. As a couple, the greatest Christmas gift you can give each other is to go for an HIV test together.
Continue using protection regardless of the results until you do a confirmatory test after three months
If both of you are negative, repeat this test at least once every year. If one of you is positive even after the second test, practice safe sex and help each other to maintain the status.