HIV positive youths: adherence challenges in Masvingo

Since the first case of HIV was recorded in 1984 in Zimbabwe, there has been a lot of myths and misconceptions surrounding the epidemic. There are also children who were born already infected with HIV and some of them find it very difficult to accept and cope with this condition they have. Thankfully modern medicine has now made it possible for someone with HIV to live a very long life if they take their medication correctly and consistently. Consistent has been a challenge among youths, in Masvingo to be precise.

A lot of young people grew up surrounded by a lot of dreadfulness stories concerning HIV. We have had a steady rise of young people who are defaulting their ARV treatment because of various reasons.  It is saddening and disheartening to meet and hear stories of young men and women who defaulted and ended up losing their lives or requiring another regimen. Notably it has been because they have been misinformed and they have fears they have no idea what to do with them.

Most of the young people feel there is no need to continue with their ARV's because there will be no obvious reason to continue.  Taking these pills they come with their side effects and without proper information and know how, one feels the need to stop taking the medication. The side effects includes, dizzy spells, weakness and nausea. Now all this for a young person is really hard to cope with if there is lack of comprehensive education.

Young people with HIV do not live in a vacuum. They live along peers who mostly are not aware of their HIV Status. As they grow, the adventure of love and being in a relationship comes in. When a young person falls in love they find it difficult for them to disclose their status to their partners. This is because they face rejection and stigmatization from the partners or their status becoming public when they are not prepared. In some cases, young people doing tertiary co-habit with their partners. Such situations have led them to find it easier to stop taking their medication than having to divulge their HIV status.

Many of these young people were born HIV positive, and they really feel burdened by taking these pills daily and even the size of some of the tablets makes them to be really difficult to swallow daily. Also the young people feel ashamed to take the tablet in public or in the presence of their friends because of its size. When for example you take it with friends around, they will ask what the purpose of such a huge pill is and to come up with a true explanation means they will be laughed at by their peers. HIV positive living is a challenge among young people.

Also late disclosure by guardians has taken its toll for young people to stop medication. The child all his life would be told that they are tablets for a heart condition, so the time they find out the truth they feel that it is not their responsibility to be taking ARV's. I came across one young girl who stated that why did her mother not do what others were doing in order to be protected from the virus. They quickly retract to denial ending up defaulting. The negative impact of late disclosure coupled with lies about medication by parents/guardians really needs to be interrogated.

Change of guardianship, whereby a child was staying with a relative who clearly know about their HIV status and the child/young person also knowing. When this guardian dies or moves to another place leaving the child/young person in the care of another person who does not know about the child's condition. The new guardian could use bigotry language that constantly relates to HIV or the child/young person`s condition. The child would find it difficult to disclose their status to the new guardian thus leading to defaulting.

Coming from a Support Group background, there are two young people I knew personally who died because of defaulting. A girl who got married and could not disclose her status to her husband. Her health deteriorated until the husband took her back to her family where they later discovered she had stopped her medication and by that time it was too late and she died because of her illness.

I also believe that comprehensive information on ARVs alone is not comprehensive enough to stop defaulting. A young men who was a very much affiliated with Youth HIV programmers and was even the District Focal person for young people living with HIV also died because of defaulting. Despite the fact that he was knowledgeable on all the effects of defaulting he lacked the emotional support and was depressed to the point of stopping his medication. He felt he needed to fit into the community by having drinking binges and multiple sexual partners which led to his demise.

In conclusion, there is great need for organisations and health personnel to go back to the drawing board and re-strategize on how they can effectively deal with this new-old problem. There is need to educate the young people on the importance of adherence and disclosure. Also the guardians and parents need to be told to disclose at an early age to the children who are taking ARV's. More support groups for the young people need to be formed and also more programs like drama groups and sports teams where positive youths meets and interact with each other. Inviting different stakeholders that will give them more knowledge on HIV and how to live long healthy lives. There is need to fight HIV stigma and discrimination among young people and promote HIV positive living among young people.

Rebecca V Mauru

About Rebecca aka Becky

Rebecca Viola Mauru, 34, a single parent to one child currently working at Real Agenda For Youth Transformation as the Programs Manager. She is Openly Living with HIV. Rebecca is very passionate about issues that affect young women HIV and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights. She has come up with platforms where young women freely discuss about Sexual and Reproductive Health and also issues that pertain to HIV. A whatsapp group has been established so far and a support group for young people living with HIV in Masvingo.