September 2007, Room No. 9, Warsaw’s Hospital for Infectious Diseases, POLAND
I have been here for two days due to malaria I caught probably somewhere in Malawi. I remember having helped with bare hands a small Ugandan boy in Bombo who had cut his toe and was bleeding heavily and therefore I request a nurse for an HIV test. I have in mind the interview with doctors from the Bombo hospital who mentioned that 4 out of 10 diagnosed patients in the area where positive.
- Excuse me, can I get an HIV test done? – I ask and… hell breaks out.
A lady on the bed by the window instantly asks nurse for same – for fear of... having contracted it from myself! On hearing that her test could be done only the next morning, she protests ‘For Christ’s sake, I have kids, I don’t want to die!’. Another lady orders to be moved to another room. I can’t believe my ears.
A doctor called subsequently by the nurses tries to explain the routes of HIV transmission. ‘You can’t contract it by shaking hands’ – he explains. The persuasions don’t work and to dispel the unfounded fears the doctor has no choice but to display a huge awareness poster on the wall.
Funnily enough, one of the ladies is diagnosed with yellow fever, another one with scarlet fever and the third one with erysipelas…
•••
If in 21st century Poland the term AIDS is laden with such prejudice and misinformation imagine what can happen in the developing world, let alone African countries.
This is a part of my interview taken in 2007 with Cheswa Flora Mubanga from the Zambian Life Matters programme.
AIDS Stigma and Discrimination exist all over the world but it manifests differently in each country. It is proved that HIV stigma can exacerbate the epidemic as it affects the disclosure of partners. Therefore fighting the stigma became one of the priorities on the worldwide agenda, especially now when "Education of youth between 15–24 years on correct knowledge of HIV/AIDS" is a part of MDG6, an international development goal agreed by all 192 United Nations member states to be achieved by the year 2015. Different organisations engage in activities to measure and fight stigma.
I found this project especially inspirational:
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The perception of HIV/AIDS affects African languages and creates neologisms all over the world. Find here a short guide on HIV slang from plusnews.org Angola (Portuguese) Pisar pisar na min - Contracting HIV is like having "stepped on a landmine" Bichinho - "Little bug" (the virus) Kenya (Kikuyu, spoken mainly in central Kenya) Kagunyo - "The worm" (euphemism for HIV) Nigeria (Hausa, spoken mainly in the north) Kabari Salama aalaiku - Literally translates as "Excuse me, grave" (reference to AIDS) Tewo Zamani - Translates as the “sickness of this generation” (another reference to AIDS) Nigeria (Igbo, spoken mainly in the east) Ato nai ise - "Five and three" (5 + 3 = 8, and "eight" sounds like "AIDS") Oria Obiri na aja ocha - "Sickness that ends in death" (euphemism for AIDS) Nigeria (Yoruba, spoken mainly in the west) Eedi - "Curse" Arun ti ogbogun - "Sickness without cure" Nigeria (Pidgin, the unofficial lingua franca) He don carry - "He carries the virus" Nigeria (English) HIV - He Intends Victory (acronym of HIV and a phrase popular among born-again Christians) South Africa (IsiXhosa and IsiZulu) Udlala ilotto - "Playing the lotto" /ubambe ilotto - "won the lotto" (said of someone suspected of being HIV positive; Lotto is the national lottery) Unyathele icable - Contracting HIV is like "stepping on a live wire" South Africa (English) House in Vereeniging - (Acronym of HIV; "bought a house in Vereeniging", a town about 50km south of Johannesburg, refers to someone suspected of being HIV positive) Driving a "Z3"/ "having three kids"/ the "three letters" - All refer to the three letters in the HIV acronym Tracker - If you are suspected of being HIV positive people say God is tracking you, like the popular southern African service that tracks and recovers stolen vehicles Tanzania (KiSwahili) Amesimamia msumari - "Standing on a nail"; euphemism for being skinny, or being small enough to fit on a nail's head, referring to AIDS-related weight loss Kukanyaga miwaya - Contracting HIV is like "stepping on a live wire" Mdudu - "The bug" (refers to HIV) Uganda (English) Slim - Euphemism for HIV/AIDS as a result of the associated weight loss; less popular since the advent of ARVs Uganda (Luganda, spoken mainly in the central region) Okugwa mubatemu - You have been waylaid by thugs (contracted HIV) Zambia (Nyanja, spoken mainly in the east and the capital, Lusaka) Kanayaka - "It has lit up" (refers to a positive reaction from an HIV test) Ka-onde-onde - "Thing that makes you thinner and thinner" (HIV) Zambia (Bemba, spoken mainly in the north and Lusaka) Bamalwele ya akashishi - "Those that suffer from the germ" (HIV-positive people) Kaleza - "Razor blade" (Refers to a person being thin as a result of AIDS-related weight loss) Zimbabwe (Shona) Ari pachirongwa - "He/she is on a (treatment) programme" Akarohwa nematsoti - "He/she has been beaten by thieves" Mukondas - Abbreviation of "mukondombera" (epidemic) Ari kumwa mangai - "He/she is drinking mangai" (mangai is boiled corn seeds, which represent antiretroviral (ARV) drugs) Akabatwa - "He/she was caught" (received a positive diagnosis) Zvirwere zvemazuvano - "The current diseases" (the HIV epidemic) Akatsika banana - "He/she has stepped on a banana and slipped" (someone who has tested positive and therefore will "fall" or die as a result) Shuramatongo - "A bad omen for relatives" Zimbabwe (English) Red card - Like a football player being sent off, life is over Go slow - Taken to mean that he/she is now progressing slowly towards death TB2 - Refers to high rates of HIV and TB co-infection (used to denote AIDS) RVR - Slang for ARVs, adapted from Mitsubishi's RVR sports utility vehicle John the Baptist - When someone has TB or HIV, he/she is said to have been baptised by "John the Baptist", who has come to announce the coming of AIDS FTT - "Failure to thrive" (adapted from the medical phrase, now used to describe HIV-positive children) Boarding pass - Implies that HIV is a boarding pass to death Departure lounge - An HIV-infected person is in the departure lounge awaiting death |
well, i’m shocked by the attitude of the nurse. As I mention before I had to do tests befor getting visa to Russia (half-a-year visa) and I didn’t meet with any behaviour like that in Wroclaw. Then when I arrived to Irkutsk, they told me to do test one more time and it was, belive me, frighting to do it in the medical point for immigrants… I was really afriad that I will couch something there.
Well, the nurse was fine. I can’t say the same about the patients.
The practices you experienced in Russia are scary.
It’s really shocking the myths people have, especially on such things as ways to catch the HIV. I know of some examples similar to the ones you describe - avoiding a handshake, sitting next to an infected person, or even being in the same room. Information campaigns still have a big job to do.
I really like the little dictionary - this is a great example of how language reflects on people’s perceptions. This list in itself could become the subject of an anthropological research!
well, i’m shocked by the attitude of the nurse. As I mention before I had to do tests befor getting visa to Russia (half-a-year visa) and I didn’t meet with any behaviour like that in Wroclaw. Then when I arrived to Irkutsk, they told me to do test one more time and it was, belive me, frighting to do it in the medical point for immigrants… I was really afriad that I will couch something there.
It’s really shocking the myths people have, especially on such things as ways to catch the HIV. I know of some examples similar to the ones you describe - avoiding a handshake, sitting next to an infected person, or even being in the same room. Information campaigns still have a big job to do.
I really like the little dictionary - this is a great example of how language reflects on people’s perceptions. This list in itself could become the subject of an anthropological research!
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