Child HIV Image Source: Impact SA Chima Azubuike For quite some time now, Gombe has been grappling with a surge in Human Immunodeficiency Virus among children. In this report, CHIMA AZUBUIKE examines the root causes fuelling the spread of the epidemic and possible ways of addressing it. Usman Zainab, a 32-year-old mother of four in Gombe State, has been living with HIV for the past 18 years with her husband, Hameed.
Of all their children, only the last son, two-year-old Muhammad was born HIV-positive. Our correspondent met Zainab at one of the HIV treatment centres in Gombe, however, when a visit was paid to her home in Malam Inna, a densely populated community tucked far from the metropolis, it became clear that stigma and discrimination still hung heavily like a cloak on individuals diagnosed with the disease. Her house, a contraption of mud and tarpaulin, was pointed to our correspondent from a distance by residents with dismissive gestures.
A feeble-looking Zainab explained that living with HIV has been challenging, especially given her family’s financial status. Accessing treatment, she also disclosed, has been hard due to the distance and cost of transportation to the nearest treatment facility to restock on anti-retroviral drugs. More disheartening to this woman is the outright rejection and stigma mete on her toddler.
“People don’t want to have anything to do with my son, let alone to carry him due to fear of contracting the virus,” she lamented. Zainab blamed.
