“I wish I had tested positive. That would have helped me immensely fight the stigma and discrimination surrounding the deadly HIV/Aids infection,” says the first president of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda, who is better known for his crusade against the growing epidemic.
On a two-day visit to the Indian city Pune, following an invitation from the Pune-headquartered Emcure Pharmaceuticals, Kaunda has already interacted with “various stockholders” to spread a simple yet complicated message, “Let us fight Aids together.”
– I got tested myself for HIV/Aids, but the result has been negative, he says, admitting that he would have otherwise openly announced to the whole world.
While he has already held discussions with the Maharashtra governor SM Krishna at Mumbai, Kaunda, who is accompanied by his son Waza Kaunda, who himself is a doctor and an expert on the disease, is scheduled to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and union health minister Anbumani Ramdoss in New Delhi.
Chairman of the Kenneth Kaunda Children of Africa Foundation, his fight against the disease started particularly after losing his second son to the illness in 1986. – We immediately decided to tell the whole world that our son, whose left behind six children, has died of Aids, he says, as a matter of fact.
Himself a testimony to the large number of HIV/Aids related deaths in Africa, Kaunda says: – The death rate could have been controlled to a large extent if the affected parents or their relatives were more open about the disease.
– Our learning in the African continent in general, and Zambia in particular, has given us various insights that this is not just a medical problem but it needs to be addressed at the society and family level too, he says, adding: – The problem has to be tackled along with the medical side by addressing the stigma, confronting the wall of silence and pushing for preventive measures.
Calling for a radical change in the Indian laws and the mindset, he said it is important that people come forward for testing. – Unfortunately, that has not been the case so far. Even those tested positive go hiding for fear of stigma and discrimination.
Underling the need “to open up,” he said political leaders and the younger generation should take the lead, and act as role models in getting themselves tested, which would then be emulated by the general population.
On the Indian laws debarring doctors to maintain confidentiality about the HIV status of a person, Waza says: – This is an important factor where we are losing the war against the deadly virus. In my opinion, doctors should be empowered, and the laws be amended in order to protect the medical fraternity (tavshedspligt).
The reason for doing so, according to Waza, is because social acceptance is the most important issue in fighting the disease. In Africa, after years of addressing these issues, people have finally started coming out in the open.
– And the results are evident to all. Children infected with the virus are still allowed to share the classroom along with others, widows are not being thrown out from the villages…. he stated.
Kaundas pill:
– Sex only after marriage
– Abstain from illicit sex
– If you can not resist, use a condom
– Create mass awareness
Kilder: Times of India og The Push Journal
