People living with HIV/Aids from Nyamira County have called on those who fear to be tested to know their status so that they can get treatment.
Speaking on Wednesday at Nyamira town in a meeting of the national empowerment programme of people living with HIV/Aids, they noted stigma and discrimination makes many fear to come out and declare to be suffering from HIV/Aids.
“It’s a personal life. Just come out and declare your status you will live health and for long comparing to when you are hiding your status,” Evans Sagwe, one of the victims, said.
He added: “Ignore any negative perception to the disease so that you can be enrolled in the ARVs programme. I came out and confessed my status without looking into stigma and discrimination. Of course, some relatives, friends and even the church ignored me. And to make matters worse, there were no ARVs during that time but am happy that we have the drugs now and am healthy than before.”
Another victim, Beatrice Atuti from Nyamira, advised those people living with the disease to live positively and use drugs as recommended.
“Not necessarily that one gets the disease through sexual intercourse, you can get through sharing of razor blades with an infected person and many other ways. Just get tested and if you are positive, take it positive. Some of us will live for longer even than the rest but it will only be possible if we take drugs as recommended,” she advised.