A battle at a time

I met a man once. His name was Austin. He was gabonese and  living with HIV.

The day we met, he was speaking some interesting english as he waited to collect his drugs at a general hospital where I interned.[i]

“Vous parlez francias?” I asked him

His eyes brightened.I saw real joy as he launched into machine-gun french that was definitely too tasking for my few weeks at French School. His story was a bit disjointed.

A former cabman in Gabon, He came to Nigeria in search of a better future. Not longer after he was diagnosed with HIV. Nigeria turned out to be much tougher than he anticipated. Earning a living while living with the condition was an uphilll task. His relatives had spent a fortune on his care.

We saw each other many times after that. My ailing french improved while his health did not. He suffered a disturbing symptom of the disease - Urticaria. An itching rash seemed to defy every remedy.

The overworked doctors at the hospital did their best but the management of HIV is still relatively new terrain at many government hospitals in Nigeria. The drugs were novel, the queues were long and complaints were numerous and varied. Urticaria ia actually not the deadliest of complications but it was enough to cause Austin great emotional distress. So much so that one day he told me.

“Mon ami. Je retournerai a Gabon”. I was sad. My friend was going home. He was weary and home sick. We hugged, shook hands and through teary eyes, we exchanged numbers. Did HIV just win another battle?

The challenges before developing countries with significant populations of PLWHAs are daunting. Facilities are inadequate. Documentation systems are still largely dysfunctional. The rate and quality of capacity building is still too low. Consequently casualities are still high.

Healthcare practitioners need to be trained and retrained, not just lodged at 5-star hotels with allowances shared at the end. Monitoring and evaluation systems must themselves be evaluated to measure their effectiveness. Drugs, free and otherwise must be adequately utilised. We must make it easier for PLWHAs to receive treatment at hospitals without perpetuating stigmatisation. National HIV policies must be reviewed  and improved constantly. Only then can we win these battles and perhaps win the war. I haven’t heard from Austin in a while.

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[i] The names  used here are fictitious and are a figment of my imagination