"I am a woman, a mother and I live with HIV"

Slender, with expressive eyes and long brown hair, as recently advised by a stylist. It's Maricarmen. He meets hundreds of people every day. Nobody would think he has the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). "I knew that I was HIV positive when I passed the exams for my civil marriage," says Maricarmen, 32.

"I am HIV positive, but I do not have AIDS," he said. And there is a lot of confusion in the population between HIV and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

To clarify the issue, the World Health Organization (WHO) explained that being HIV-positive or HIV-positive means that it can spread the disease, but has not yet developed it (sometimes years and so far to show no symptoms of the disease). To be sick of AIDS is already the developed disease.

POSITIVE RESULT

"The director of the medical center, where we passed the exams, read the results. With my future husband by my side, she told me that she was a carrier and that she would enter a national list to receive treatment. I've received a lot of information that day, "recalls Maricarmen, while emphasizing that the only thing she clearly remembers from this conversation is" my partner's face, when they I've announced that I had the virus and that they would give me drugs. "

It has not been easy. This is not a new commune. "The world came on me, I did not know what to say to him, I thought I was going to die. I did not know if I would continue to work … I thought, "I will not be a mother". It was like a tumult in my interior that revolutionized my life, "he says nostalgically.

Patients diagnosed with HIV are denying, panicking, fear, guilt, anger, hopelessness and loss of hope, according to a study conducted by the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies in New York.

Therefore, in order to facilitate and improve the quality of life of HIV / AIDS patients and to promote actions to prevent its spread, World AIDS Day is commemorated on December 1 of each year. year.

The United Nations AIDS Organization (UNAIDS) points out that around the world, about 1.8 million people were infected with HIV in 2017 and 36.9 million were living with the virus.

In Panama, about 18,000 people are infected with the virus, of which 88% have already been diagnosed, according to the Ministry of Health.

Elvira Fuentes, clinical psychologist, points out that the emotional impact of knowing that you have HIV is strong, high.

"In ten years, I brought psychological help and I attended five of those cases. As in most situations or emotional disturbances, this does not mean that family or loved ones have accounted for a high percentage of emotional recovery, "he said.

Maricarmen corroborates this postulate, recognizing that the help of her husband and loved ones today has allowed her to see that life goes on.

"The return home is done in silence. We arrived and he said 'you want to talk?' I almost did not let him finish and I cried, I told him that he did not want to marry me, it would go … ", remembers Maricarmen. God gives you something, there are no human circumstances that take it away from you. I know this is the one God has predestinated for me as a husband, his help and that of his family have given me hope to live, "he says.

EVERYDAY LIFE

Maricarmen acknowledges that she has faced challenges in maintaining her happiness and moving forward.

"In a job, they noticed and wanted to say goodbye. It was a legal process. In the end, I decided to resign because, although most people are good, there was no need to discriminate against me and to make me feel very bad, "she says.

Therefore, advise youth to avoid reaching this situation that "may have a negative impact on their lives".

In this sense, Alexis Ábrego Ardines, coordinator of the Panamanian program Canales de Esperanza and specialist in integral development of childhood and adolescence, ensures that one of the best ways to avoid the contagion during adolescence and youth is to postpone sexual debut. until you have an emotional maturity.

& # 39; Everything has its time. In young people, bad decisions are made because of a lack of knowledge or the impulse to be young, "says Ábrego.

However, the Channels of Hope coordinator adds that it is "obvious that young people are not made of iron, but that we must take action." If they had previously said that the test of love was to have sex, it should now be an HIV test.

He adds that "having sex without a condom is a Russian roulette".

The integral development specialist in childhood and adolescence recommends "communicating" and "getting out of the taboo" on the subject, in addition to transmitting and reinforcing values ​​in infants and adolescents.

"Every time we see more laws that want to devalue society, this is negative. We see the increase of music that invites to have sex in an uncontrolled way and a society that encourages not love, but pleasure without laws, "he said.

He concludes that "it is necessary that young people know that happiness is their own attitude, it does not depend on another person or circumstances".

Currently, the international actions to which Panama adheres have the goal that by 2020, 90% of people living with HIV know their HIV status, receive continuous antiretroviral therapy and that 90% of those receiving antiretroviral therapy have a suppression. viral.

The Panamanian Government has implemented prevention campaigns to carry out massive HIV testing in different parts of the country.

Tears to the cheeks, but with gratitude and a broad smile, Maricarmen exclaims: "I am a woman, a mother and I live with HIV, I live happy! I have the best husband in the world, what can I ask for more?

"Yes, I am a mother," he ratified, "because thanks to the help – continues Maricarmen – of doctors, relatives and many professionals, we decided not to deprive ourselves of this blessing, of course, with all the care and guidance needed. "

Nearly three years after her birth, her baby girl was born in good health: "Thanks to the power of God and the help of all the beautiful people around me," he concludes.