Another World AIDS Day message? Yes! Please read me. I’m not going to be long. And I’m going to be clear – and hopeful!
So much gloom surrounds AIDS. And so many of us experience so much pain and difficulty on these occasions.
We think of the loved ones – the family and colleagues and friends we've lost to AIDS. We think of those who are unwell from HIV-related illnesses right now. And we think of those in denial – perhaps including ourselves.
So here is my definitely up-beat and positive message to Exit readers for 2008. A message of good news. A message of hope. And a message of shared action.
My message is three-pronged. We can deal with AIDS effectively by accessing treatment, combating stigma, and increasing our prevention and awareness efforts.
AIDS IS TREATABLE
The first and most important message about AIDS is that it is a medically manageable condition. A fully treatable condition. In most cases – the overwhelming majority of cases, well over 90%, rich and poor, black and white, rural and urban, male and female, gay or straight – HIV-related illness can be successfully treated. In fact, some AIDS specialists now go so far as to say that under correct medical supervision it is easier to deal with AIDS than other chronic manageable conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes.
That’s an astonishing thought – but once your doctor has ensured that you’re on the right regimen of medication, and your immune system is back up functioning once more, for most people few further medical interventions are needed.
In November, I celebrated eleven years of life and health and vigour on anti-retroviral medication – I started in November 1997, when I was dying of AIDS, and the drugs have kept me wholly healthy, vigorous and energetic since then – I see my doctor twice a year for check-ups and blood tests. And for over eight years now, none of those have been able to detect live virus in my blood.
That doesn’t mean that I'm cured. My virus is there, lurking away in microscopic niches and recesses of my body – though it’s undetectable, it’s waiting for its chance to rise up resurgent.
There is no cure for AIDS, and anyone who says there is a cure is a quack and a charlatan. I remain HIV positive – and if I ever stop taking my medication regularly, every day, very soon I will become very sick indeed.
But so long as I take my three tablets once a day, every day, my virus is under control. And research shows that I can look forward to as long and healthy a life as someone without HIV.
So the first message is about medical treatment. AIDS is manageable. It is not a death sentence. Deal with it as a treatable condition – not a horror story. Engage with the epidemic – deal with it practically and realistically. Get over phobias and fears and aversions. With proper medical care, AIDS is manageable.
GET OVER STIGMA AND FEAR, AND GET TESTED!
The second message of hope and action follows from the first. It is this. Get over stigma. Get over fear. Treat AIDS like a normal but serious medical condition. Stop treating AIDS as something mysterious, alien, unspeakable. It isn't. It’s here – it’s amongst us, in our country, in our people. And we have the means to deal with it, very effectively.
And start with yourself. Pester your friends, family, sexual partners to get tested. But first and foremost, have yourself tested for HIV – and if you’ve been tested already, test again. You don’t need to fear the result as a death sentence.
So we must stop treating HIV infection and AIDS-related illnesses as something weird. It’s not weird. Or, at least, not weirder than any other viral condition. AIDS is a bodily syndrome caused by a virus – a virus that effective medication stops in its tracks, leaving the infected person to resume a normal health life.
So my second crucial message is the anti-stigma, anti-fright message of normalisation. That means stopping blame, moralism, condemnation. That means ending abnormal responses to HIV infection. The only truly exceptional responses that HIV now calls for are continuing anti-discrimination, anti-stigma measures.
For the rest, let’s accept that we have a massive but manageable epidemic in this country, in this region, and let’s get on with dealing with it as effectively, practically, humanely – and quickly – as we’re able.
PREVENTION, PREVENTION, PREVENTION
My third message to EXIT readers for World AIDS Day is prevention: continuing, unceasing, never-ending awareness and prevention. My message is this. Beware. Although AIDS is now medically manageable, you'd be silly to expose yourself to the risk of getting it. So don’t. Please don’t.
I have HIV – and I can assure you that you don’t want to have it. I’ve been sick with AIDS and I can promise you you don’t want to experience that. Though I'm joyfully grateful that medical care and treatment gave me my life back eleven years ago, please believe me that it’s not convenient to have to take pills for the rest of my life. Even though they are just three pills, once a day, I’d prefer not to have to.
Also, we must never under-estimate the difficulty of calibrating HIV medication. There is a risk of side-effects – which sometimes (though very rarely) can be fatal.
And then on ARVs you do need regular medical check-ups – another intrusion and inconvenience
Let me put it this way. Do you want high blood pressure or diabetes? Would you wilfully do anything that would put you at high risk of getting hyper-tension or diabetes? Would you want to take pills for either of those conditions for the rest of your life? Would you choose to get any other inconvenient chronic condition?
No. Of course not. I don’t either.
So my conclusion is that you don’t want HIV.
So love carefully, protectively, respectfully. Love lovingly. Love yourself, and love your sexual partner(s) when having fun or when expressing your commitment. Be safe, be careful, protect yourself and protect others.
If you're HIV negative, stay that way. It’s not difficult. HIV is hard to transmit. And precautions are simple.
But we must empower all people to be able to love safely. And to be able to stay out of HIV’s way.
So, for this World AIDS Day, let’s remember that AIDS is medically treatable, that stigma is irrational and unnecessary and stands in the way of normalisation of AIDS, and that we must continue, unceasingly, unremittingly, unendingly, with our prevention and awareness and sexual empowerment messages.
A combination of effective prevention, effective treatment and an end to stigma. That gives us something to work positively on for World AIDS Day 2008!