STIGMA STILL RIFE
Shock as nurse tells HIV+ man God is punishing him for being gay
“What if God is punishing you for being gay?”
These were the harsh words of a health worker at one of the public health facilities to 27-year-old Pontsho Sekisang, an HIV and Human Rights Activist.
Sekisang had gone for his routine checkup. He tested HIV positive in May 2016 and immediately started treatment as his diagnosis coincided with the Treat All campaign that sought to enrol all those who tested positive in antiretroviral treatment.
Sekisang, who also works for Botswana Network of People Living with HIV (BONEPWA+), says stigma is still rife, especially towards the gay community. His worry is that stigma becomes worse when it comes from health practitioners because it ultimately hinders access to services for those who are HIV positive.
Fortunately for Sekisang, he has mastered the art of standing up for himself and does not allow anyone to dim his light. “I am a bold and confident individual and therefore I am able to stand for my rights. I was able to confront that nurse and told her a piece of my mind,” Sekisang says.
As a gay man, Sekisang narrated how he battled with internal or self-stigma before he even experienced it from others. In fact, for him, it was the internal stigma that hit him the most. He said he first asked himself how his family would react, and also wondered how people around him including his friends would react if he told them that he was HIV positive.
“But my mother and sister somehow knew. I believe my mother also noticed that I was taking ARVs, but they decided to keep quiet,” Sekisang said.
He later realised that he needed to share his status with someone and decided to talk to his aunt who was young and could relate with him better. What Sekisang realised was that he had been subjecting himself to internal stigma because after disclosing his status to his family, they were all supportive.
Sekisang further took a bold step to disclose his status publicly on Facebook, and received overwhelming positive responses from people who were also HIV positive.
“I realised that I had been punishing myself for nothing, because once I disclosed my status, people were surprisingly very receptive towards me,” he said, adding however that there were negative comments here and there of people who thought he was only looking for relevance and attention especially that he is gay. Sekisang believes that information is the most critical thing for communities to beat stigma. “e more people receive information about HIV, the more receptive they become,” he said.
Sekisang’s experiences resonate with the latest HIV Stigma Index 2.0 Study 2022, which was launched recently.
e study assesses progress in eradicating stigma, gathering insights from people living with HIV on various aspects including disclosure, confidentiality, interactions with the community and healthcare workers, legal knowledge, available services and internalised stigma.
According to Dr Daniel Rakgoasi, a consultant from the University of Botswana, the study found out that fewer people experienced external stigma, which were mostly discriminatory remarks and exclusion from family activities.
However, internal stigma was found to be the most dominant form of stigma experienced, especially by young people. He attributed this to the fact that many at that age, have not had a lot of experience with dealing with HIV and therefore are ashamed and tend to beat themselves up.
Dr Rakgoasi said there is need to strengthen individual level counselling, adding further that self-care mental health initiatives could assist to build towards positive living.
“It is BONEPWA’s recommendation that
the implementation of the Positive Health Dignity and Prevention (PHDP) strategy be incorporated into all HIV response practices, to intensify positive living to reduce internal stigma,” he said.
On the other hand, to deter the recurrence of external stigma, he believes that community stakeholder engagements and CSO driven initiatives to engage families and households could assist to change the community norms that drive stigma and discrimination.
As far as healthcare workers who still discriminate and stigmatise people living with HIV, Nametsego Tswetla of the National AIDS and Health Promotion Agency (NAHP) told e Midweek Sun that such stigma is borne from bad attitudes of some healthcare workers, something, which is not acceptable.
She added that currently there are continued efforts to ensure that all that is eliminated through a consistent review of existing laws, regulations and policies related to HIV to ensure harmonisation with global standards, as well as strong advocacy for inclusion of people living with HIV irrespective of sexual orientation or their involvement in potentially high-risk behaviours in the HIV response.
Further, that engagement of civil society organisations in collaborative initiatives can be a positive testament to achieving universal coverage of HIV response services.
When officiating at the launch of the Stigma Index Study, Assistant Minister for State President, Boitumelo Gofhamodimo said HIV-related stigma and discrimination is concerning because it threatens the accessibility and utilisation or preventative, diagnostic and treatment services.
She noted the positive progress that Botswana has made towards reducing HIV related stigma, stating that the country has transformed from a society that used to associate HIV to sin, witchcraft, infidelity, misfortune or death.