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LIFE GOES ON
 

Life Goes On is a self-help patient support group funded and supported by Action for AIDS (Singapore). It is also now the driving motto of Johnny, aged 42, a HIV positive patient. Johnny discovered his illness in 1998 when he collapsed at home and was brought to the hospital. Johnny's first reaction was one of shock and devastation. For Johnny and all AIDs patients, it is an uphill struggle to face the social stigma, high cost and perennial side effects of treatment.

To help spread the message of Aids prevention, CGH invited Mrs Iris Verghese, HIV Programme Assistant at TTSH Communicable Disease Centre to talk on "Coping with the new challenges in the era of active-retro viral therapy". At the same time, a personal account of living with Aids was given by Johnny.

Johnny confided how he coped with AIDs at his work place, how his friends reacted, and his driving force right now... "When I told my friends about my condition, many of them turned away and I have not heard from them since."

Johnny has also kept his condition under wraps from his employer and office as he is afraid they might ask him to leave. Now, Johnny is passionate about leading a better life. He finds his strength through his church, religious groups, Action for AIDs and other support groups. Treatment also comes with a hefty price... $2,000 every month. And the side effect of diarrhoea from the more aggressive drugs he has started on causes him a great deal of discomfort.

Even though AIDs was first diagnosed in Singapore in 1985, and there has been much publicity about AIDs, many people are still in the dark as to how to react to AIDs. The problems do not just lie with ignorance but also acceptance.

Mrs Verghese who has been a real solace to AIDs patients at the Centre says, "There is still a great fear of the unknown." Mrs Verghese also recounts stories of AIDs patients who were kicked out of their homes as their families have asked them to stay away.

   
 

Mrs Verghese leads by example whenever she visits AIDs patients at their homes by treating them with dignity and respect like any normal person. More importantly when Mrs Verghese shakes their hands, pat their backs or gives them a consoling hug, the message she wants to send out is that AIDs cannot be contacted through causal social contact.

3 ways that HIV can spread
  1. Through semen, vaginal fluids or blood during unprotected sexual intercourse with an infected partner. So practise safe sex. Use a condom properly. Use brands that are reliable and check expiry dates.
  2. Sharing needles and syringes for intravenous drug use with an infected person.
  3. From infected mother to baby during pregnancy, child birth or breastfeeding.
    longer time.


Even though AIDs was first diagnosed in Singapore in 1985, and there has been much publicity about AIDs, many people are still in the dark as to how to react to AIDs. The problems do not just lie with ignorance but also acceptance.