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TOGO: Moving past HIV
22 Jan 2009 17:39:09 GMT
 Source: IRIN

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LOME, 22 January 2009 (IRIN) - The government estimates that nearly 180,000 people in Togo are HIV-positive as of 2008 – about 3.2 percent of the population. Some 60 percent are women, and almost 13,000 are children under 14. In December 2008, one month after the government made life-saving antiretroviral medication (ARV) free, IRIN met with some people living with HIV in the capital Lomé.

Simba Abalo, 47, unemployed retired soldier

"I learned about HIV and AIDS in the military. I am not sure how I got infected. My two youngest daughters with my current wife have been tested, but not my 10-year-old son with my first wife. When I first got sick [September 2007] I tried to get on antiretroviral treatment but [state medical purchasing agency] CAMEG told me they were not taking any new cases for six months because they had run out of drugs [ARVs]. Even if they had the drugs, I could not have paid more than US$4 a month since I had just lost my job as a security guard earning $70 a month.

Read more about ARV shortage here and fee-free solution here.

"I came to look for help mostly for my wife [HIV positive]. Our children are so young. She needs to be in good health to take care of them."

Tchotcho Adjano, 44, egg vendor

"After I left my husband, I slept with many men. I know that is how I got infected. I am single now, but the solitude does not bother me. I do not miss men. I just want to be healthy.

"I did not have to pay for ARVs [subsidised by the government], but I am still celebrating the fact that ARVs are now free for everyone. Other people's suffering is also my own, and we are all in this together. Regrets? No, I have none. Why regret? Life is too short for that."

Assibi Kanou, 23, former student

"I was living with my brother who asked me to leave because he said his children would become infected. I am living here at this non-profit where I get medical care [Espoir Vie Togo, translated "Hope, Life, Togo"]. I do not work now. If I become healthy enough, I want to go back to my village. They are nice here, but it is lonely. I am on ARVs, but it does not help the loneliness. Do you know when that will hurt less?"

pt/kn/np

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org


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Last updated:Thu Jan 22 17:39:43 2009