"I am not a patient, I live with HIV"

Worldwide, there are 36 million people living with HIV. In the Netherlands, there are 22 thousand. Three of them were sitting at De Nieuws BV at the table. How is it to live with HIV? Reina Foppen, Mark Vermeulen and Brenda Mugabona talk about it

HIV was a death sentence

Reina Foppen, 55, was infected with HIV 30 years ago by a partner in Spain. He died two years later: "But I'm still here, I was lucky that the drugs, which became available in 1996, were just in time for me." At the time, HIV amounted to a death sentence: "I would not go until 30. I celebrated my thirtieth, my fortieth and my fiftieth birthday, I will say. "

I'm going to be 85 now and I did not think that when I was 25 years old.

According to Reina, this passage from the death penalty to living with HIV took place in several stages. First of all life-saving drugs, a few years later, it became clear that long-term drugs provided for the definitive removal of the virus: "And now it is even impossible to transmit it with drugs. a lot of progress, I'm going to be 85 now and I did not think that when I was 25 years old. "

Reina's daily life is not very different from that of people without HIV." With a short life perspective, you make different choices, "says Reina," But you have to eat every day you just have to work and you just have to make money, it does not change, I did not wait for my death, and according to Reina, it's also the reality for a lot of people in the world, everyone does not have access to medication, but even then, life goes on as usual.

'You can live with HIV'

"I'm not a patient, I live with HIV." In 2007, Mark discovered that he had HIV when he did an STD test: "At one point, the result was that I was became HIV-positive, which was a shock, but I knew it immediately, with HIV, your life. "

By the time Mark is in treatment, he swallows one pill a day. The virus has been removed in such a way that Mark can no longer sexually transmit it: "So, I no longer have that fear, it's a big difference with a few years ago." This is because the virus is sleeping. He is so repressed by the drugs that we can hardly find him in his blood.

Fight against the pharmaceutical industry

But not everyone has access to these drugs. Many activists also wander to the RAI AIDS Congress. Sex workers, gay men, young women: everyone is here to make sure we find a solution for AIDS around the world. "The fight against AIDS brings a lot of people together," says Mark.

Sometimes, there are also activists who are fighting against the pharmaceutical industry. Mark: "We need the pharmaceutical industry, they manufacture the pills, but sometimes they also ask for a lot of money. For example, sex workers protest, who generally have little access to appropriate care and medications. In countries where there is often legislation that prevents them from leading a healthy life.

The stigma surrounding HIV

In the Netherlands, HIV, like diabetes, is considered a chronic disease. According to Mark, there is only one big difference between these diseases, namely "the stigma that surrounds them". HIV is still about sex or certain groups, such as sex workers, and there is always stigma with health professionals. "

They think that they should be very careful with someone with HIV

Mark hears stories, also from people in the Netherlands, that they are suffering from stigmatization. "I live in Amsterdam, I work at Aidsfonds so it's different for me, I also hear stories of people who have heard their dentist" come back to the end of the day, "because they think that they are with someone with extra HIV should be careful. Mark: "And it's important that everyone in the Netherlands knows about it and that we can do it normally against HIV."

HIV for life

Brenda has had HIV all her life. now deceased mother had transmitted the virus during pregnancy.Brenda has never noticed the stigma surrounding HIV: "It's partly because my adoptive mother wrote a book about me and my life with HIV when I was very young. Brenda has a dragon in the blood . "

The pamphlet wrote to her adoptive mother to inform people, but also to eliminate stigma. "It opened doors for me to talk about HIV," Brenda says. In her high school, everyone knew that she had HIV. "I've had questions about" Can I drink from your cup? "Or" can I use your makeup? "And I understand these questions, I would also able to ask if I would be in their shoes. "

Therefore, I would like to ask everyone to embrace HIV around the world and to have a conversation about it

Still, Brenda wanted to know where these questions came from: "Often, it's a part of ignorance. A conference like this one has only one goal, says Brenda: put HIV on the map. "That's why I want to encourage everyone to embrace HIV in the world and talk about it."

More from De Nieuws BV

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter

Report an error