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Feature: Stigmatization haunts HIV patients in Kenya

Xinhua, July 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Every three months, Kevin Otieno (false name), a resident of Homa Bay county in Western Kenya, has an appointment with his doctor.

It has been a routine for the 35-year-old shopkeeper who was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS five years ago. Despite being on medication, he is yet to expose his identity as an HIV patient.

"The reason why I fear disclosing my status is that people will start developing a negative attitude towards me and even shun my shop and stop buying my products," he told Xinhua in an interview outside a hospital on Thursday.

Everytime Otieno comes to the hospital, he is given a dosage of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs which is enough for him to take for three months. However, Otieno ensures that he empties the drugs from the container before he goes back home.

"I dump the containers and packets in a corner, just 100 metres from the hospital so that no one notices that I'm carrying big containers full of ARVs," Otieno said.

Otieno's situation is not alone. There are other HIV patients, particularly those in villages, throwing away the ARV drugs for fear of facing discrimination in the neighborhood.

"It is very difficult for us (HIV patients) to swallow the drugs in front of the relatives and the villagers because you may become the talk of the village," he said.

Lawrence Oteng, minister of health in Homa Bay County, said stigmatization of HIV patients remains an obstacle to the fight against the disease.

"The county government is working with donors to fund HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns including counseling to end stigmatization and discrimination," Oteng said.

Homa Bay is among counties in Kenya which have the highest rates of HIV infections.

In Homa Bay, a total of 70,837 HIV adults are in need of Anti-retroviral Therapy (ART), according to the Kenya National Aids Control Council's 2014 report.

However, only 70 percent of them have access to the service while out of the 15,235 children in need of the ART, only 42 percent are covered, the report reveals.

Joel Odondi, a research scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute regretted the situation, saying that the ARV drugs are very expensive and actually government relies on donors to supply the drugs.

"Almost 90 percent of anti-retroviral drugs supplies are donor funded. The patients should stop the perception that because the drugs are given to them for free, then they are cheap (drugs)," Odondi said.

He cited stigmatization and lack of knowledge as some of the reasons that HIV patients are skipping ART drugs.

"There is still high level of stigma in hospitals and communities and that is why patients are shunning their drugs. This is why patients are not adhering to drugs," he said.

Skipping the ART drugs could deteriorate the disease, he said.

The scientist called for the removal of discrimination on HIV patients -- which he said would help make them willing to receive continuous treatment.

Across Kenya, a total of 101,560 new HIV infections were reported in 2013. Of them, 12,940 were children, 50,530 were women and 38,090 were men. Enditem