I wish I had tested positive: Kenneth Kaunda

SIDDHARTHA D. KASHYAP
TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 2005 03:21:15 PM ]

PUNE/India: "I wish I had tested positive. That would have helped me
immensely fight the stigma and discrimination surrounding the deadly
HIV/Aids infection," says the first president of Zambia, Kenneth
Kaunda, who is better known for his crusade against the growing
epidemic.

On a two-day visit to the (Indian city of Pune), following an
invitation from the Pune-headquartered Emcure Pharmaceuticals,
Kaunda has already interacted with "various stockholders" to spread
a simple yet complicated message, "Let's fight Aids together."

"I got tested myself for HIV/Aids, but the result has been
negative," he admits, admitting that he would have otherwise openly
announced to the whole world.

While he has already held discussions with the Maharashtra governor
SM Krishna at Mumbai, Kaunda, who is also accompanied by his son
Waza Kaunda, who himself is a doctor and an expert on the disease,
is scheduled to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and union health minister Anbumani Ramdoss in New
Delhi.

Chairman of the Kenneth Kaunda Children of Africa Foundation, his
fight against the disease started particularly after losing his
second son to the illness in 1986. "We immediately decided to tell
the whole world that our son, whose left behind six children, has
died of Aids," he says, as a matter of fact.

Himself a testimony to the large number of HIV/Aids related deaths
in Africa, Kaunda says, "The death rate could have been controlled
to a large extent if the affected parents or their relatives were
more open about the disease."

"Our learning in the African continent in general, and Zambia in
particular, has given us various insights that this is not just a
medical problem but it needs to be addressed at the society and
family level too," he says, adding, "The problem has to be tackled
along with the medical side by addressing the stigma, confronting
the wall of silence and pushing for preventive measures."

Calling for a radical change in the Indian laws and the mindset, he
said it is important that people come forward for testing. "But
unfortunately, that hasn't been the case so far. Even those tested
positive go hiding for fear of stigma and discrimination."

Underling the need "to open up," he said political leaders and the
younger generation should take the lead, and act as role models in
getting themselves tested, which would then be emulated by the
general population.

On the Indian laws debarring doctors to maintain confidentiality
about the HIV status of a person, Waza says, "This is an important
factor where we are losing the war against the deadly virus. In my
opinion, doctors should be empowered, and the laws be amended in
order to protect the medical fraternity."

The reason for doing so, according to Waza, is because social
acceptance is the most important issue in fighting the disease. In
Africa, after years of addressing these issues, people have finally
started coming out in the open.

"And the results are evident to all. Children infected with the
virus are still allowed to share the classroom along with others,
widows are not being thrown out from the villages...."

Kaunda's pill:

* Sex only after marriage
* Abstain from illicit sex
* If you can't resist, use a condom
* Create mass awareness

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1050142.cms