At one time, Masida Mhone, a young woman living with HIV in Malawi, couldn’t bear the stigma she faced from her peers and community. Today she has a much more hopeful story.
At one time, Masida Mhone, a young woman living with HIV in northern Malawi, couldn’t bear the stigma she faced from her peers and community. She felt as though every tick of the clock was taking her to the grave. That was until she found a new lease of life – and for this she is thankful for the support she received from Life Concern Organization (LICO).
LICO runs a youth group that meets every Tuesday at the local school to discuss issues of HIV and AIDS. This helped Masida, 21, focus on a life ahead.
Masida belongs to a village in the Rumphi district of northern Malawi. At 15, she dropped out of school and got married. She was divorced a few years later. When she fell chronically ill, relatives and peers from the youth club advised her on the importance of HIV testing.
At the Bolero youth club young men and women share their experiences and knowledge about HIV and AIDS. Following their advice, Masida went to the Bolero health centre, which is about 15 km from her home, where she tested positive. She was immediately put on antiretroviral treatment and this helped her regain her health.
Masida believes her HIV status is a result of her former husband’s unfaithfulness.
Peers play a supportive role
According to UNAIDS, AIDS is the leading cause of death for adolescents in Africa and it is vital that more young people are engaged in the effort to address this issue. This means that more funds and support are needed for youth organisations like the one in Bolero where young people can learn from each other.
The youth group works closely with practitioners at the health centre to get teaching materials to use in their group. And it collects condoms from the health centre and makes them available to young people. It is also supported by the Southern African AIDS Trust (SAT) to work with young people around issues, including early marriage, unsafe sex, school dropout, HIV-related issues, and alcohol and drug abuse.
Adolescence can be challenging at the best of times, let alone when you are also living with HIV. Ensuring young people receive the support they need to keep adhering to their treatment is a big challenge.
At one point, Masida dropped out from the youth club and stopped going to the health centre to get her medication. Her mother noticed dramatic changes in Masida’s way of life and sought help from the youth club. The young people there directed her mother to visit the health centre where she could collect her daughter’s medication. Restarting the antiretroviral drugs helped Masida regain her health once again.
Looking forward to a new future
Masida is now remarried. “When my husband approached me proposing marriage, I told him of my HIV status. He wholeheartedly accepted my situation,” she says. Masida is now expecting her first child and her husband escorts her to the clinic visits, where she is receiving treatment to prevent transmission of HIV to her baby.
Masida now participates in the youth club once again and is taking antiretroviral treatment as prescribed by the doctors. The youth club plays a crucial role in empowering youth like Masida to mobilise themselves and become concerned citizens.
Masida is now looking forward to motherhood and having a healthy baby.
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