Saturday, November 2, 2024

HIV/AIDS stigma level still high in Mongu

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A civic organisation involved in the fight against HIV and AIDS in Mongu district in Western Province says the levels of HIV/AIDS stigma were very high, there.

Kuomboka Youth Group Executive Director, Mutti Mubanga told ZANIS in an interview in Mongu today that the stigma levels are being fueled by failure of top ranking district officials to openly disclose their HIV status.

Mr. Mutti said that the fight against stigma could only be won if leaders in the district took a proactive role to openly disclose their HIV status to motivate other residents to openly talk about their status.

He said that leaders in the district had an influence to positively change the mindset of people towards issues of stigma.

Mr. Mutti also appealed to government and the business community in the district to help local organizations that are involved in the fight against the HIV and AIDS scourge.

ZANIS/JA/ENDS/MM

74 COMMENTS

  1. Sadly enough, HIV/AIDS stigma will never dissapear, not even after a thousand years. It is part of human nature.

  2. #4 dilligence, yes mwana. As someone pointed out, I have the “news-instinct”, I can smell a new headline from as far as 100 miles away!:d

  3. Manje pipo shud be told to use a condom. I think from that part of zed, they need longer synthetic elastic condoms otherwise, i think vimabookela mkati.

  4. Dats coz their is no cure for Aids. Western countries already have a cure for HIV/AIDS but can’t provide it free of charge like ARV’s coz they still want to profit from more expensive treatments.

  5. I think stigma is part of the solution…maybe even more stigma will scare people from misbehaving…dont cut my head, i have just left my mind to wounder about

  6. #9 boi wilabepa abantu..there is no cure yet..
    some of us are close if not always in the labs..
    so ulebomfya fye condom mwana..we need u!!!!!! :”>

  7. This area is just ku village. Always behind in everything. just look at how UNIP still had members there after change of govt. Right now this town belongs to a cinderella province and they still support MMD like hell. They are backward in everything, i think even one leader who liken them to being backwards like buttocks was right. Stigima can only stand in the minds of people who know that is only transmitted through sexual intercourse and by prostitutes. But the modes of transfer are many, unprotected sex, coming into contact with tainted blood – helping accident victims, helping a deliverying mother, mother to child, spouses infecting their innocent partners. So with this data, be real.

  8. #10 Dr. aah! you craked me…you took it that I said “Stigma” was the cure! :)) I just meant to say maybe it will scare away people.

  9. hey lol!# 8..condom is not too heavy for chaps from that side of zed..hence dont cheat them about cure….its not yet there..

  10. i mwe ba Dr, why is it that chaps in developed countries misbehave a lot but we are told AIDS prevelence is low…I wont take chances with these pink faces

  11. Dear Dr,

    They say don’t believe everything you read but just believe me on this one. A rich American family were visiting Zambia on a humanitarian mission and fell in love with this baby boy at a rural clinic who’s mother was dying from Aids and unfortunately she paased it on to her baby. They took the baby back to America with them and gave him the best treatment money can buy. The doctors were adamant to say their is no reason one day he could not have a family of his own (HIV FREE) as all traces of the HIV virus had dissapeeared.

    They’ve been many documented cases of people being cured of the virus like that american basketballer. Just made me think a cure is out there.

  12. ku kulu matuku ape mwa nyema abami mata . Kizahawo kimani yakubulelezi kuti ube basali kokusina condom. Kulata ahulu ku cha mwanja nima hompani amubona musali mapuno ma nemba yamina ayalati ku yafafasi…

  13. These Lozi chaps are finally growing up. It was taboo a few years ago to find a Mr. Mubanga running an organisation in the heart of Mongu. Normally the executive director would have been a Mr.Simbotwe or Sililo.

  14. Stigma can be overcome but we need leaders to be in the forefront. For example many think you can get HIV by touching someone who has the virus! Leaders can reverse this belief by showing others that you can touch and help someone with aids. In this regard, one Michael Sata can achieve a lot, because his followers would emulate his example in dealing with HIV infected citizens. Of course the president should also be hosting charity dinners where HIV people are invited – local poeple – not the usual over fed guests who turn up for these things.

  15. dear #18..am happy to hear that…
    what you heard was a story..AIDS is not a disease..its just a status of immune system in which even a simple staff like sleeping sickness will eventually kill u.
    mind you some pipo have no receiptors to HIV..there fore one can take that cure is there..
    where i live in russia…ama guys bala lasa but the beauty is that being HIV positive in russia is equivalent to a serial killer..
    hence infected pipo are easily up rooted from normal ones…bcoz bambi mutila i cant die alone…
    mwandi kuno chalilila…so take it easy lol…am in the field …
    so lets keep on using it..

  16. lol #18!stress is the main cause of AIDS..so in the absence of ubwali coupled with triple stresss…awe its a time bomb…
    better in USA or somewhere…u wont see it..
    believe me u..if you want..try it while away from zed..no one will see it..but as soon as you get back to zed..you will see it first urself…
    so avoid stress guys…you may force it to come to the open…

  17. lol#19 write what a common zambian can understand..
    lozi is too heavy for most of us…i might think u r insulting us…hahahahahah :((

  18. The reason of not prositituting should not be the dread of hiv but the respect of morals,you ought to listen to the voice inside you.your inner concious should help you do whats right,if you aint gat it,probably you killed it.you lose nothing by being true,alwaz karma will find you.

  19. Dont worry about me Dokota, am worried about you with all those long legs in russia. Take care….dont sample!!!!! Zed is short of Dokotazi

  20. Question-Where did AIDS come from?
    If scietist have the guts say that”man came from apes”how come they can not tell us the origin of HIV.

  21. engines i think u 2 dont sleep..dont u have better things 2do?
    its holiday in russia…thats why we are……
    and here water is expensive than beer….

  22. yeeeh! mayo explaination of AIDS BA Dr in #22,mwalatusebanya olo muzativesa nsoni.ati even simple thing like sleeping sickness can kill yu,sleeping sickness being simple,Hmmm? bane study hard or yu’ll face problems during yo internship,no hard feelings.

  23. sorry even yo reasons in #23 quite questionable.stress is not the leading cause of AIDS rather malnutrition followed by HIV,MCQ-PLAB.

  24. I know that zambians we also have level of promiscuity but from random surveys that were conducted at some VCT were i was vonlunteering most of the people have had 2-3 partners and then there are those who are on the extreme, and some with only 1 before getting the disease. When in Some of these places one night stands are the order of the day ahhh if that were zed half of our population would be wiped out by now. Nway i think that many people here may have HIV and dont know because they feel they are not affected

  25. The problem we have is that pipo are not afraid of Aids. They dont realise how serious it is and the problem it brings to ones family! I have heard pipo say its just a disease like Malaria or say we all have to die from somethin or we all have to die sometime. Wat rubbish! How can a normal human being think in this manner!Its for this reason you even find one will spread it so they dont go down alone becuase they use the brain in their pants and not the one in head. Stigmatisation should continue and people lookin for employmet or somethin should be screened. Maybe then things will change and innocent pipo like the decent wives, kids or husbands dont die from another’s irresponsibilty!:-l

  26. #52 girly,thats the truth,word up,i big up your comment,if only we had a few more people like you,the world would be a better place to live in.

  27. First of all,I should be the first one to admmit that sexx is good and alot of people do not enjoy sexx with a condom . This as resulted into unwanted pregnancies and contracting of HIV and other STDs.
    Stigma will always remain a big problem in a socially disoriented country like Zambia.The citizens no longer enjoys the strong social relations which binds people together and our culture is now characterised by bad morals .Primary socialisation has not been successfully performed by the parents in helping the children conceive the much needed societal norms and values,instead this has been left to institutions like education which has not helped in building up a strong morally up right na

  28. HIV/ AIDS was developed in a lab somewhere in the west and the primary reason for it was to reduce world population. Some people in the 1940s felt that if things remained the same with out reducing world population, by the year 2000 white people would be a minority in the world and the west would find it more difficult to control the world. Somewhere between 1940s -60s, the HIV virus was tested and found to be working. In the 1970s the virus started appearing in target areas such as Africa because of her riches (natural resources). Some sources even suggest that the UN’s inspired polio vaccinations were designed not to fight polio but to weaken the immune system for hiv to enter the body.

  29. How can a normal Zambian with a Phd claim Lozi is too heavy for them?
    We do not need the stinking face of tribalism on this blog!!!!!!!!
    If you are wise enough,retract your statement.

    This is the kind of thinking that has led to divisions in Zambia.Some characters use bemba,tonga ,nyanja etc on this blog but no one has made such a remark against them.Do not be myopic in dealing with issues of language.Come out of your little box and be real.I doubt whether you are really a doctor as you claim.

    Muzinkhalako na nzeru.Munoba ningana,mule kwatako amano,Kamuba aa maano,Baninge na nzeru,………………
    :o:o:o:o:o:d/:d/:d/:d/[-([-([-([-(**==**==:-@:-@:-@:-@

  30. #20
    You can not call all lozis as chaps that is an insult.Besides its not everyone from western province who backwards as you want us to believe have some dececy and self respect you sound so rural and unexposed in life.I wonder whether you even understand what you write.

    Be cool and level headed. Enjoy your blogging but respect others. 8-|8-|8-|8-|8-|b-)b-)b-)b-)

  31. #20 You can not call all Lozis as chaps that is an insult.Besides its not everyone from western province who is backwards as you would like us to believe .Have some decency and self respect you sound so rural and unexposed in life.I wonder whether you even understand what you write.

    Be cool and level headed .Enjoy your blogging but respect others. 8-|8-|8-|8-|b-)b-)b-)b-)b-)[-x[-x

  32. Fellow bloggers: Timely & free advice
    1. Condoms are not 100% safe even if used correctly and consistently. They have a 97% safety measure.
    2. Since sexual intercourse sessions nowadays are tantamount to ‘war’ of the genitalia this further compromises the safety margin of the condoms.Men and women alike want to prove to each other who can make the other breathless during the act- condoms break or actually slip of during the act.
    3. To play safe: know your HIV status & if negative, either abstain or have one HIV negative partner for life. Ulukumbwa will kill you!!!
    4. For the HIV positive friends,keep away from multiple partners coz you risk contracting other strains of the virus.

  33. Its a sad state of affair to hear that in some provinces the HIV stigma levels are still high.. With the provinces I know, the stigma levels are qiuet reasonably low as people have come to realise that this disease is ‘real’ and it has come to stay. No one can tell a lie that HIV has never touched a part of their lives. We have lost so many beloved ones..Why not embrace our families presence with more love in this time of tragedy?.. people think it can not happen to them… what they do not know is it happens to humans alike…no discrimination at all… :-w:-w:-?:-?:-?:o:o

  34. The first Performance appraisal on this Govt by the Zambian people will be held on 1st Feb 09 based on the 3 months probation period.The second performance appraisal will be held 1st May 09 based on the 6 months probation period afterwhich the Zambian people will decide based on the outcome whether to ask them to resign honourably or if the performance is positive then a yearly performance appraisal will be conducted on 1st November of each year until the elections in 2011.This will apply to every Govt that will ever rule Zambia.LT please come up with topics relevant to these assessments on the due date to give an opportunity to Zambians to fairly & objectively assess the Govt.

  35. just to give pipo some info: viruses cannot be cured that is why ‘nechifine’ does not have a cure. HIV is an addition to the list….. no cure. However, ARVs slow down the reproduction rate of the virus and therefore slow the progression of the HIV infection to full blown AIDS. Some people on ARVs can have very low viral loads.

    So please, get the notion out of your heads that there is a cure somewhere and as the old saying goes ‘prevention is better than cure’

  36. …..stigma has always existed in our society. We should not expect much from pipo. Just look at how differently abled people, albinos and so on are viewed and treated….. maybe if there were any success stories in trying to fight stigma in the mentioned groups we could use the tricks to fight stigma against HIV and AIDS

  37. no. 65 AIDS is every where….. and whether we start scratching our heads as to the source we atleast have some information on how it is transmitted and it is upon us to try our best to protect ourselves and ours

  38. And you cannot tell by looking. Stop drawing your own conclusions about someone ‘s appearance. The only surefire test is HIV test.Moreover these ARVs are masking nearly all the symptoms of AIDS so beware :)>-:)>-:)>-:)>-

  39. “Mr. Mutti said that the fight against stigma could only be won if leaders in the district took a proactive role to openly disclose their HIV status to motivate other residents to openly talk about their status. He said that leaders in the district had an influence to positively change the mindset of people towards issues of stigma.”
    With this, there is no need to dilly dally any more for the soultion is Mandatory HIV TESTING for any Zambian/foreigner who visits both Private and Public Health institutions like Hospitals, clinics, etc. Please, MMD GRZ, I appeal to you to introduce the mandatory HIV testing as soon as possible. Just educate the people that there are drugs that can cushion it.

  40. #69 continued.

    As a matter of fact, some people claim there is a one injection drug that cures an (HIV/)AIDS patients by annihilating the HIV once and for all. The information is all on google, but unfortunately I have forgotten it because I never took it seriously when “Abena Copperbelt” LT blogger showed me that data some time last year when we meet in South Africa.

    So, convince the people that mandatory HIV testing is for their good and you will see how we all will eraducate this STIGMA problem which is being perpetuated by failure for GRZ to implement this mandatory HIV testing thing.

  41. Do you guys honestly believe a scientist in his right frame of mind would create a virus and not have the Antidote…? Would any of you make that rookie mistake

    The cure is there…

    The world just doesn’t know!, and they will never know

    Wake up and smell the coffee……

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