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WHEN a patient is commenced on ARVs one expects to get better. What happens when one’s immune system is compromised is that all infectious diseases find a fertile playground in his/her body.
The HIV virus destroys one’s ability to fight off infections hence the term “the immune system is now compromised”.
It is therefore easy for one to get recurrent colds, skins rashes, TB, herpes, pneumonia, among a host of other illnesses.
Before the immune system was compromised one had the potential to stave off a cold even without taking medication, but with HIV playing havoc on the system, a simple cold cannot be treated by cough syrups, and often requires antibiotics. -
Catherine Murombedzi HIV Walk
“I suddenly fell very ill after delivering my son in 2005. I suspected I was HIV positive but did not have the guts to get tested. It was scary, so I kept telling myself that I would get well. “That I am still alive today is a miracle. I now move -
THE story of Dick Deveranyika is hard hitting. Dick does not feel sorry for himself, but would not like to see the same case repeating itself without him educating the nation.
Dick tested HIV positive in 2000. He had been asked to take a routine test at the clinic when he went there feeling unwell.
Dick said the fact that there was no medication was frightening.
“I learnt of my HIV status in 2000 when I visited a local clinic with a terrible cough.
“Then there was no medicine and testing positive was a death sentence. The staff was not in a position to help much so the -
Sometime last year, this column highlighted the plight of Ambuya Lucia Nyazuva of Mufakose, who looked after 10 orphaned grandchildren.
Ambuya Nyazuva was ill and aged over 75 years, but had the mammoth task of looking after the minors.
The grandchildren, all aged below 12 years, attended primary school intermittently. -
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WITH the World Health Organisation’s theme of three zeros, zero Aids-related deaths, zero discrimination and zero new HIV infection, people who do not know their HIV status may take the effort into reverse gear.It is baffling to many people when a man loses three children all in infancy and still does not care to know his status.
Sugar Damuta attended school up to Grade Sixin the farming community he grew up in.
This is the case of a man who is a father of a 10-year-old boy who recently buried his wife of 11 years.
He argued that his 10-year-old is well and alive and that he is healthy and that someone in the community is bewitching his family.
Maybe this is the reason he lives in denial and the little understanding of HIV issues, -
Behaviour change is key to stop the spread of HIV. Other programmes like the prevention from mother to child transmission, condom use, universal access and condom use are, in my view, complementary.
The One Love campaign in 2009 to 2010 focused on being faithful to one partner and with this one would surely be protected against HIV infection. That would work when one kept to one faithful -
A shocking testimony that would have one jump out of their skin is what the launch of Zimbabwe Parliamentarians on HIV (ZIPAH) witnessed last week in Harare.
Usually people do not want to be asked how and when they got infected, especially when dealing with HIV issues. That is not the case with Mr Richman Rangwani from Chief Murambwa’s area inMhondoro.
In very rare circumstances do we get to have one give a testimony that they once lived recklessly.
The man, who now heads Simbarashe Network of People Living with HIV, spoke of how he got infected, the difficult road he travelled and where he stands -
THERE seems to be a deliberate tendency among some people who are HIV positive to spread the virus.
This intention, which is disturbing, seems to be embedded in the sense that one intends to get even.
The argument that is given does not hold water. Usually one argues that a man infected me, so I will also pass on the virus to men. The same applies to men who do the same to women. This is warped thinking and needs to be addressed.
The syndicate seems to dwell on the theory that “I won’t go alone” and therefore is thick to have any sense knocked into them.
I received some disturbing emails from a concerned woman who requested anonymity. -
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HIV Walk Catherine Murombedzi
Charity had been on Anti Retroviral Therapy for the past five years. She had regained her weight and was no longer ill, as was the case years before commencing ART. She has vowed never to stop taking the drugs. -
In my many visits to one of the big referral hospitals in Zimbabwe, Harare Central Hospital, since 2009, I was surprised to find that very few men access ART as compared to women and children.
The Opportunistic Clinic is a hive of activity from Monday to Thursday when pre-ART counselling sessions are conducted, blood for various tests is taken, wellness clinic sessions are held and ART is dispensed.
The majority of people visiting the OI clinic have already tested HIV positive hence are on ART. Those not yet on ARVs may be on cotrimoxazole as they have their health monitored.
With a long waiting list, not everyone in need of ARVs is able to access them as expected. -
DISCLOSURE is a process and some people have found it a difficult road to traverse after testing HIV positive. HIV, unlike other medical conditions, is treated with shame and disdain by society as it is stereotyped as a condition for those with loose morals. Virginia is a female aged 26 who said she will forever regret the day she disclosed her status to her parents. She is
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It is common cause that there are some families that have been ravaged by the HIV epidemic. In the communities we live in, orphans and vulnerable child-headed families are a constant reminder of what the scourge is capable of. Three decades on, science has made great strides in its fight against HIV. Lynette and Liana are teenage sisters who live all by themselves in
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Were we to conduct a random survey and ask who knows his/her HIV status among the general populace we would receive many a baffling response. Some would argue that since they are fit and healthy the need to know or undergo a test falls away. Another lot would use the bus stop gauge and say thus far no one has died from the circle of those they have been
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Catherine Murombedzi HIV Walk
It's January 7and many people are watching their purses. For the Nzou family it is a time to celebrate.
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HIV Walk Catherine Murombedzi
James is a man in his mid sixties. His first wife died in 1998 and he married two other wives in quick succession. The two wives also died.
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