There were a few people sitting there, so I joined them.
Then one man casually pointed towards those waiting at the clinic and said, "See those people sitting on that bench, they are all there to collect HIV drugs."
My body just went cold.
My body just went cold.
The people around him started talking about how those people must have been careless and irresponsible to have contracted HIV.
What shocked me even more was that the man appeared to work in the hospital.
I sat there thinking, How can someone who works around patients be this careless with people's private medical information?
I couldn't even go back to the clinic to collect my drugs that day. I was afraid that if I walked into the office after he had already announced who was there for HIV medication, everyone would assume I was also there for the same reason.
That is how powerful stigma can be. Someone's careless statement can make another person afraid to access their own medication.
So please, if you work in a hospital or you happen to know someone living with HIV, their status is not yours to announce.
Don't point them out.
Don't gossip about them.
Don't tell people what you know about their health.
If they haven't told someone, respect their privacy.
And please, don't sit in judgement of people living with HIV. Life can change in ways none of us expect.
As we say in our local language, person wey never die no know wetin go kill am.
Most people living with HIV today never imagined they would ever receive that diagnosis. Some were born with it. Some trusted the wrong person. Some simply don't know how it happened.
But whatever the story is, they are still human beings.
God forbid is not a shield against life. God pass everybody.
Today, you may be talking about someone else's status. Tomorrow, you may find yourself needing the same understanding you once refused to give.
So please, keep people's health information private.
A person's diagnosis is not gossip.
You see this Nigeria, there's no privacy. You can be sued abroad for this careless statement. Nigerians ehnnnnn... very judgemental people!
ReplyDeleteVery judgemental, extremely hypocritical, smellingly misogynistic and not even registering on the Richter scale in terms of of IQ and EQ.
DeleteEven a feather would have more depth in intellectual conversation.
For instance, see thousands of hours people are devoting to the most banal, childish topics. "Ehnnnn, ahu we call I'm Mr Toney or ahu wii call him His royal Majesty nkan be???
Whenbbrain cannot handle anything heavier, what do we expect?
Always behaving like a herd of brainless animals that one regressive society excreted from its anus.
Mtshewwww.
We need reorientation in this country.
ReplyDeleteThe clinic can also set itself up to be more discreet. Those ppl who are already on a routine and who do not need to meet with staff for anything could pickup their prepared medications at a different window with little to no wait time. Newer patients who still need monitoring should be the ones needing to sit and wait. There is no reason why you should have to wait so long when you are not new. African and African descended people lack thinking on how to make things work efficiently. We have to see others do it first before we think it can be done. There is no need for hundreds of ppl to be sitting in a clinic for hours just to pick up medication. Even the overworked staff cannot think to see how they can ease their own burdens, they just keep seeing the hundreds of people day after day like that is normal.
ReplyDeleteToo bad..
ReplyDeleteSo sorry dear
ReplyDeleteYou should have reported that man
That is why we are pushing for integration of all hospital services, where everyone access care the same place irrespective of your status.
That will soon come to stay.
Again if your VL is undetectable and your biometrics are matched, you mustn't go to the hospital yourself, someone can get your medication for you, even if it is a health care provider you trust
We still have a long way to go.
ReplyDeleteStigmatization is really bad. Some people need to stop that because, you don't know what people are passing through
ReplyDeleteYou can imagine the oversabi radio without wire. In a civilized place, he can be arrested and his license revoked.
ReplyDelete