Kisumu based HIV/AIDS activist Phenny Awiti has encouraged residents living with HIV/AIDS to forever stay strong despite the challenges that are associated with contracting the virus.
She urged them not to be held back by negative thoughts that come with being HIV/AIDS positive.
“You have to live and not be dead in the brain, because HIV is all in the brain, and what is in the brain, is a lie (all myths),” posted Phenny Awiti on her Facebook account.
Ms Awiti discovered that she was HIV positive way back in 2008 while in form two.
“Around the second term, 2008 in Form Two, when I discovered I was HIV Positive, my life stopped! In my mind, I had the fear of all the misconceptions and doubts about HIV. I let HIV define me for a very long time, and it did,” she posted.
She says that in her mind, she was HIV positive, and not anything else. “I never saw myself dating, having babies, living a normal life, no,” she added.
The mother of two says that HIV is not a death sentence; insisting that myths associated with the virus must be rectified.
“These days, I define HIV, I describe it, and it doesn't!” she said.
Such a compelling message comes a few months after National Aids Control Council (Nacc) statistics put Kisumu third with 16.3 per cent HIV/AIDS prevalence.
Being one of the Nyanza counties that have been adversely affected by HIV/AIDS prevalence, inadequate information about health services has been stated as one of the reasons why the infection is still high in the county.