About 2 months ago, I signed up as a member of a Philippine-based forum and have been posting items on the Aids/HIV thread as part of my personal advocacy to increase awareness of the health issue. I have come out in that thread as a HIV-positive individual and for self protection, I use a codename only.
I have received quite a number of personal messages of encouragement, support and inquiries but what appalled me is the amount of misinformation about HIV/Aids and how it breeds so much baseless anxiety.
Let me cite two personal messages I received.
One from a married guy who suspects he has HIV simply because he noticed a drastic change in his build and stamina compared to his younger years. He didn't mention any symptom of HIV infection. He also said he is afraid that if he turns out positive of HIV, he would lose his job and thus his family would suffer and that he would be "herded by the health department into a facility for HIV-positive individuals and kept there for the rest of his life." To be honest, I found it funny and felt sorry for the guy.
The second personal message was from someone (I wasn't sure if the letter-sender was male or female), who revealed that their housemate turned out HIV-positive when the latter underwent a test as part of pre-employment requirements for a job abroad. The letter-sender asked for advice on what to do and was fearful of contracting HIV from their housemate.
In response to the first letter, I asked the guy if he has any physical symptoms of HIV infection aside from a drastic change in his body build. I recommended that the guy undergo a medical checkup to find out what's really wrong with him and take a HIV test as well to determine his status. I also said HIV-positive individuals are NOT herded into a facility and imprisoned there. I likewise told him that HIV-positive individuals are protected by a law against discrimination (including termination from one's job because of one's HIV status) and they can still lead healthy and productive lives as long as they live healthy, eat healthy, and take their prescribed medicines religiously. As for the second letter, I assured the letter-sender that he or she need not fear getting infected by their housemate through a mere handshake, use of the same comfort room, staying in the same room, sharing of utensils, among others because HIV is not an airborne virus and can only be transmitted mainly through unprotected sex and sharing of needles (among drug addicts).
In their respective replies, they thanked me for clarifying matters and allaying their fears.
This goes to show how some people still need to be taught adequately about Aids and HIV because really, the lack of information can result in unjustified fear.
I encountered the same thing in San Lazaro. There was this OFW guy who was talking to an HIV+ guy. The OFW guy kept on asking questions and stating facts he know about the virus, obviously all the facts he know are just false. I got annoyed and I answered in behalf of the HIV+ guy he was talking to. I know it was not the OFW's fault that he doesn't know a thing about the disease, but it is indeed annoying, and thus I need to extend my patience as I must also educate people like him, which I really want to do and thus the purpose of my blog as well as the rest of us (HIV+ bloggers).
ReplyDelete(sigh)
Proud of ya. :-)
ReplyDelete@ canonista.
ReplyDeleteyes, even pozzies like us need to be educated also and it has to be a continuing process. we cannot claim complete or total knowledge of the virus in our body and the ailment so we need to read and research.
if i don't know the answer to a certain question posed by a private message sender, i say so because i don't want to be accused of providing false or wrong information.
i think i know the guy you are referring to. he was in RITM also in one of the pozzies' gatherings recently and all he talked about were the bad things about HIV/Aids to a newbie, who needed encouragement, support and hope, not bad news. damage control had to be done and the newbie got the support and encouragement he needed.
@ pinoypoz
thanks! :)