Zimbabwe: Where AIDS, HIV Are Always Close to Hand
October 18, 2007
Carmen Bellows, an Edmonton psychologist who works with Doctors Without Borders, teaches staff in Zimbabwe how to deal with mental-health issues associated with HIV/AIDS. Zimbabwe has an HIV rate of as much as 25 percent of the population. Bellows said living in a society where HIV is rampant puts the disease in a different focus.
"You see the need to reduce the stigma and global negativity towards AIDS," Bellows said.
Doctors Without Borders and other non-governmental agencies that supplement Zimbabwe's overtaxed health system treat HIV/AIDS as a medical emergency. But the ultimate challenge for health care workers from international organizations is HIV prevention: teaching people about condom use, the benefits of regular testing, and living monogamously.
"I have to think that HIV can be treated as a chronic condition, or the futility of what you're doing is overwhelming," Bellows said. "People need to have hope."
Edmonton Journal (Alberta)
10.16.2007; Paul Marck
This article was provided by CDC National Prevention Information Network. It is a part of the publication CDC HIV/Hepatitis/STD/TB Prevention News Update.