Friday, May 15, 2009

WINNING THE WORLD TOGETHER AGAINST HIV/AIDS

Soon after I came back from the lake, my brain has been brain washed with lake activities that I nearly forgot I am duty bound to keep you posted. Furthermore, I guess it is this political obsession that has made me disappear this week. It’s just a few days to go.

Many are asking me not to keep quite on the political activities as we draw closer to elections, however my simple understanding tells me that a lot has been said already on the elections that people by now know who to vote for and not even my voice will influence ones decision. So sad that we have decided to spoil the campaign trail with issues of violence here and there, seriously there is no need for stoning and insults now, this is primitive. I will say more when the elections are over because there is still life after elections.

Today, would love to talk about the HIV/AIDS which is still eating our people like never before. Out there people are still dying and you are my witnesses of the cruelty of the pandemic that calls for extra gear against it to make it stop terrorizing innocent lives.

Two years ago, I made a visit to one of the largely affected townships in South Africa-Soweto inside Johannesburg city. This was under the Regional Facilitation Team being coordinated by the Salvation Army. People were walking dead that you could easily notice the trauma they were going through in the township. Men, women, girls and boys were infected or affected in one way or the other that any mention of the disease will invite a moment of silence in disbelief of the damage being caused.

Good enough, the country is not as poor as many of the nations in Africa. There is always food on the table for the infected. which is health and boosts their immunity, furthermore the distribution of Anti retro viral drugs is a success story on its own as many can afford the drugs. Their bodies would testify to this. Today, we hear that two years down the line the country has made tremendous strides towards better living and reducing the prevalence rate.

To be found positive of the disease is one of the most shocking events one can get in his life, life comes to a standstill. You can not think of anything worth doing as you leave in fear of death. Yes counselors tell us that there is life after the disease but in reality the people infected live a life of hand to mouth where they don not know what will happen to them in the next hour or day. This can happen to any other person but the belief has been that once infected you will leave with the disease till you die. That alone traumatizes you a lot that you face death everyday.

Of concern also are reports that sometimes machines that are being used to test whether one is positive or negative are not accurate as they sometimes give wrong information, imagine how you can feel a machine diagnosing and finding you positive only to realize later that it was a wrong result that was given to you. I know you can not believe this but it is happening everywhere in the world today.

Some health personnel are even more careless that they rarely offer proper counseling to people who are infected. They tell the infected people to come another day for counseling. Suppose another day never comes and the person commits suicide due to the shock, who will shoulder the blame?

The world today has made a number of scores on diseases that have been a burden to people. Today, you will never here of cases of chicken pox, polio nearly so, guinea worm disease is also eliminated, I here there was also a disease called black fever (visceral leishmaniasis). It was worlds’ second deadliest parasitic killer to malaria. All these are things of the past.

If you are not sick of malaria today, think of tuberculosis or HIV/AIDS. These diseases are a talk of every nation these days. Vaccines have played a crucial role in the world today in making some of the diseases disappear. However, questions ringer whether there will ever be a vaccine against HIV, malaria and Tuberculosis, I guess scientist are working around the clock to make a scientific breakthrough in developing such a vaccine.

Some life saving solutions to the three deadliest diseases in the world today-which are claiming millions of lives everyday should be better funding to poor countries. There are ways and indeed good ways that one can prevent the deadly diseases but they just need to be introduced to developing countries to save lives that we are losing. Thanks to the Clinton Hunter initiative, the Bill Gates, save the children and many other organizations that want a better life for all human beings. I guess you have heard of the microbicide gel, to help the women protect themselves against HIV. It is a way that four or so years down, not many African nations know this way of prevention.

The best out of all ways is way of abstinence; it is proving to be a way that can serve many lives than any other ways but how many people are using this formula these day. Condoms have dominated instead, how best can we trust condoms since the time we started hearing about them?

Governments and organizations must now step up to the plate with more money-wisely targeted-to expand effective global health program to reach all those in need. Businesses, community groups and individuals all play a role as well. There is more hope now than ever before that we can make the world a better place to leave in if we join hands.

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