Aine, 28, lives in Biharwe village in Mbarara district in western Uganda, and is just one of many people who almost lost his life to HIV due to a lack of information about the virus.
Boda-boda (motorcycle taxi) rider Aine says that when HIV hit his marriage, he believed that he and his wife Joan were bewitched and so they sought medical attention from a shrine in Nyakabale village, some 80 km away in Sheema district.
The journey to HIV diagnosis
“I never thought my wife was suffering from HIV, she was losing weight at a terrible speed, she started having ‘funny’ diseases and I didn’t imagine that it could be HIV. She suffered from malaria and diarrhoea; she was vomiting, her flu and cough never cured. At first we suspected that she was pregnant but after three different tests, pregnancy was ruled out,” Aine said.
Then they went to see a traditional healer. “We were given local herbs at the shrine but our health worsened and besides, the cost of buying the herbs was high and we were sleeping in a house with poor hygiene. In fact we even got infections that we could have avoided,” he said.
Following this, Aine’s landlady convinced his wife to take an HIV test. “I came back home one day in February 2013 and found my lovely wife in tears. She immediately pulled out the results and told me about her HIV status. I collapsed. It was at Biharwe health centre that I also discovered that I was HIV positive,” he added.
Because both their viral loads counts were high, their situation could not be handled at the health centre and so they were referred to Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital.
At the hospital they had their CD4 count taken, which measures the immune system’s strength, which HIV attacks. “We were told that they didn’t have the necessary drugs and we were referred yet again to Makerere University Joint AIDS Programme for further management,” Aine said.
Starting up an association
When his boda-boda colleagues found out about his HIV status, Aine was chased from one of the motorcycle taxi stages where he was operating from and, when he shifted to another one, his former colleagues followed him there, talked ill of him and he was again chased away.
But Aine was determined to withstand the abuse and in January last year formed Mbarara Boda-Boda HIV/AIDS Association (MBAS) with the aim of addressing the information gap about HIV among boda-boda riders. The association now has 3,420 registered members.
Aine believes that starting up an association was a big turning point in his life which he has since dedicated to fighting HIV.
“I was moving around [the motorcycle stages] educating fellow boda-boda riders and giving them information about HIV and it took me almost a year to convince them to join hands and fight the disease,” he said.
Working together to tackle HIV
According to Henry Turibamwe, chairperson of MBAS, the association organises seminars for their members and also saves money to treat their members when they are sick.
“We were so ignorant about HIV, especially about condom use and treatment adherence. In fact five of our colleagues died with signs and symptoms similar to the ones Aine had. I am glad that now we work together and we will surely win the HIV battle,” he said.
Turibamwe said that they test for HIV once every three months as group and depend on each other for support.
“Quarterly we go with our partners to the hospital for HIV testing and have ensured that all our male members are circumcised in order to help prevent new infections,” he explained.
Sister Julie Nakabugo, a counsellor at the Makerere University Joint AIDS Programme, said that they have a good relationship with the boda-boda riders and that they are lobbying the Ministry of Health to adopt methods to engage more riders.
“We have encouraged the HIV positive ones to develop an adherence plan and to always seek technical advice whenever they find challenges,” she said.
Find out how male circumcision can help prevent HIV transmission
