People with HIV can be happy with right treatment, support: Foundation
Published on: Sunday, December 15, 2019
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Malaysian AIDS Foundation Honorary Secretary, Bakthiar Talhah, who is himself HIV positive, admits that living with HIV in Malaysia is not easy. The stigma is still there despite all the effort and awareness campaigns.
Many also choose not to seek treatment although HIV treatment in Malaysia is free.
“Anyone can just walk in a government hospital or health clinic and get the treatment one needs for free, yet many refuse to do so for fear of being found out they are HIV positive,” said Bakthiar.
The blame certainly cannot be placed on HIV people alone as based on the Malaysian AIDS Foundations, they have had cases of people losing their jobs just because they are HIV positive.
“We still have people who are scared to get treatment because of the stigma. They fear losing their jobs or the possibility of their families throwing them out of the houses… all because of poor knowledge or misinformation about HIV,” he said.
Bakthiar pointed out that the first thing one can do to erase the stigma is by not having the need to find out if someone is HIV positive. “Just like you don’t ask a job applicant if he or she has diabetes,” he said.
“Nobody ask how somebody gets cancer, but with HIV, the question is always there, as if you did something bad, that you are a bad person. Somehow with HIV there is a stigma,” he said.
He said HIV patients can live even up to 95 as long as they are on treatment. But for many the fear of coming out in the open is too overwhelming that they choose not to seek treatment.
Currently, the Malaysian AIDS Foundation and the Malaysian AIDS Council are working on a legislation to make sure there is no discrimination against people with HIV in the work place.
“Someone with HIV can function like anybody else, which is why the need for the legislation to take place,” he said, noting that this is important in view of two thirds of new HIV cases happening among young Malaysians aged between 20 and 39.
Bakthiar noted that these are productive Malaysians, where nationally there are an estimated 3,000 new cases a day, or about six to eight people a day detected as HIV positive in Malaysia.
He said this was why the country needs to get the stigma out of the way and start treating those with HIV just like anyone else.
For Ali (not his real name), being diagnosed HIV positive in 2012 led him closer to God.
Now 57, Ali admits being “naughty” in his younger days.
“I was a lost soul, I felt like the world belonged to me, I did nasty things with my friends, I had a lot of friends.
“But look at me now. The people whom I thought were friends don’t even look at me now. They don’t care about me at all. They were only friends when I was doing well,” said Ali who has since sought refuge at a mosque.
His story started after his wife passed away, leaving him lonely and depressed.
“We had no children because my wife was barren. She got really sick and died. I started mixing with the wrong crowd,” said the man who used to work as a security guard for several companies.
He said he found out about his HIV when he went to a clinic for an eye problem.
“My eyes were in really bad shape, I wasn’t expecting to be told that I had HIV, I was dumbfounded.
“I have never really understood what HIV was all about. Nobody really told us anything about it even while growing up.
“I only came to know about the possible complications that comes with HIV after being diagnosed with it,” he said.
Since his diagnosis, he gave up his old habits and did a lot of soul searching.
Now, despite being completely blind, Ali remains secretive about his health status to family and friends.
“I haven’t found the courage in me to open up about my condition. All they know is that I am sick. I don’t want my family to be worried. I don’t want them to sympathise,” he said.
He now lives on charity and donations from non-governmental organisations.
His advice to others: “Be careful with who you mix with. Having to live with HIV is not easy, it is something you have to deal with for the rest of your life.”
He also has advice to those already diagnosed with HIV “Abide by the treatment religiously. Your life depends on it.”
Getting people to go for health screening can be a daunting task, and convincing them to follow through with the treatment can be another challenge altogether.
Dr Haseanti Hussein who is Sabah Health Department Public Health Specialist/Senior Assistant Principal Director said providing counselling to convince those diagnosed with not only HIV but chronic disease is needed.
Once the treatment starts, some patients may not continue taking their medication regularly, they miss out often, some fail to take it at the right time, at the right dosage.
Thus, providing counselling for them is important to make sure they understand the importance of keeping track of their medication.
Bakthiar shared the same advice, saying “After a few months of being on treatment and following the treatment adherence, those with HIV will get to a level where it is undetectable.
At that point, that person who is technically HIV positive does not actually transmit the virus to anyone else.
He notes that the Malaysian Aids Council together with Sabah Aids Awareness Group Association (Saga) has for a year now taken preventive measures through safe sex campaigns, to promote the usage of condoms.
Such efforts are good and need to be continued, but at the same time, those in the non-governmental organisation and the government are pursuing in getting anyone who is HIV positive to be on treatment.
“Once they are on treatment and they get to an undetectable level, they do not transmit the virus to anyone else,” he said. – Sherell Jeffrey
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