Simon Mwendapole South of the river
NOT YET CLEARED FOR (CONDOM) TAKE
OFF
Imagine how I felt when news broke at the end of last year that someone claimed
to be ‘cured’ of their HIV infection. Like everybody else I was
ecstatic, but the ecstasy was mixed with concern about how this ‘news’
might affect people’s sexual behaviour. Being a community man, my two
mobile phones never stopped ringing with people enquiring what exactly this
meant for us on the once ‘Titanic’ ship. I advised colleagues
to exercise caution which, in retrospect, was wise. One gentleman said he
thought that because the virus was a very confusing ‘creature’
perhaps what it needed was for it to be further ‘confused’. What
he meant by ‘confusing it’ was that perhaps we might need to acquire
various strains of HIV to ultimately pave the way for its disappearance.
Naturally I understood his frustration at living with the virus; how he wishes
he could stay free, hence his potentially fatal reasoning. It’s impossible
to prevent people thinking about HIV in this way but I’d strongly advise
people to desist from home-spun science and urge them to always use condoms
and continue to hope for a cure soon.
Clinic
staff must be wondering whether this case was just a blip or for real. Whatever
emerges as the truth, I know mistakes sometimes happen in laboratories and
appreciate that contracting HIV can be a lottery. In life I have seen hypersexually
active people fail to use protection yet remain HIV negative while others
were infected with HIV in the comfort of their homes. Life’s a bitch
indeed. Until a cure is found, we will never stop thinking and venting our
frustrations about this HIV infection. It is interesting to note that the
number of new HIV infections in many countries has declined although the number
of people living with HIV and Aids has increased. This to me is tricky as
the more people living with HIV, the greater the risk of HIV being passed
on, especially if we pay no regard to how we conduct ourselves. Behavioural
changes such as the increased use of condoms, a delay in first sexual experience,
and having fewer sexual partners have played an important part. But the global
figure for people living with HIV has shot up to about 40.3 million from 37.5
million in 2003. My view has always been that it is our responsibility, as
people living with the virus, to ensure we do not infect others knowingly
or behind the fear of knowing. Current health promotion strategies appear
effective to a degree, even though more needs to be done at an individual
level. A man may collect 20 condoms from the clinic or a social event but
is he ever going to use them? As citizens we need to always think responsibly
and with a heart. The health promotion net has to be widened to cover all
activities that are likely to increase infection rates. I have funeral gatherings
in mind particularly here in the UK where effective health promotion could
be carried out. I have noticed a trend where people mourning deceased friends
and relatives often do so with a lot of alcohol, hanky panky and sex. It’s
frightening because after drinking alcohol, some people are tempted to do
‘things’ and the chances of HIV infection are high. Once I offered
one mama, who seemed up for it, a condom to keep in her purse and she asked
me if I ever used them, making me wonder whether, for some, condoms are nothing
but packets that just fill up bags. One can only say so many times that it’s
up to us to be responsible for reducing HIV infection rates. The general public
also need to be extra careful with information that comes out in the tabloids,
especially if it concerns us or our dear ones. I leave you now as
I have to load condoms into my rucksack for my samu-samu (sex).
