HIV/AIDS patients die more from discrimination and stigmatization
HIV/AIDS patients die more from discrimination and stigmatization
February 09, 2010
Koforidua, Feb 9, GNA- Rev Monsignor Bobby Benson, the Director of Mathew 25, an HIV/AIDS centre, has said many people living with HIV/AIDS die early because of the stigma and discrimination that they suffer at the hands of families and relatives.
He said with the ART drugs, People Living With HIV (PLWH) could live a normal life but because of the stigma and the resultant dejection, many die early from grieve and sorrow.
Rev Monsignor Benson appealed to families of HIV/AIDS victims to accept them to reduce the stigma and discrimination that such people go through.
Rev. Benson, who was addressing pre-valentine programmes for trade apprentices and school children in the New Juaben Municipality, said the only way to reduce the stigma and give HIV/AIDS a human face was to accept it as any other disease.
The pre-valentine celebration was instituted by the Mathew 25 House some five years ago to sensitize the public especially the youth about the hazards of such occasions where the youth had been made to believe to have sex to show their love.
He said the reluctance to accept such persons made it difficult for them to reveal their status to be able to receive the necessary medical care as well as support from their families.
He told the participants that with the mode of infection, every person stood the chance of getting infected and disabused the minds of the participants that it was a preserve for immoral persons.
The Mathew 25 House, which was established to care for PLWH, had become home for neglected PLWH, orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) and currently taking care of 150 PLWH and 100 OVC.
The leader of a group known as ADAP from the U.K, who occasionally visits the house and makes contributions, said PLWH needed to be cared for to ensure that their children did not become liabilities to society.
He said in that direction, the group had always made significant contribution towards their development and that the group was taking some of the OVC's through computer training whiles the adults were being trained in business mathematics.
He pledged the support of ADAP to the House to be able to continue its programmes and rehabilitation.
GNA