Saturday, December 15, 2012

‘My girl friend was HIV+ but i never got the disease’ Says Okello in London

I used to run an organization for people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. I even dated a woman with HIV/AIDS. She was my girlfriend; she is still alive and kicking and has better health than myself. She came out openly as HIV positive in the 1990′s as part of our campaign on HIV/AIDS and also to campaign for people with HIV/AIDS and that they can have normal sexual and family lives so long as they practice safe sex and keep to their medication routine. Personally, I have never regretted having a HIV/AIDS girlfriend but she is the one who left me because she did not want to live in a polygamous relationship. But we are still very good friends, she is not in the UK though, she went back to Africa
It is in fact criminal to infect a partner with HIV/AIDS; it is a manslaughter charge, although I will give you the debate about this at the end. One must practice safe sex; one can even have children and bring up a family despite HIV/AIDS. The scientific way of doing this is now available.
One with HIV/AIDS must also keep up to the medication every day. This is sometimes a hard task. HIV/AIDS is today controlled, at least in Europe. It is no longer the deadly disease that it was in the 1990′s. In fact here in London, people with HIV/AIDS now lead a very normal life like everyone else, so long as they control their sex lives and take their medication and
take care of their diet, eat good nutritious food , do physical exercise etc.
The debate I wanted to talk about is, and this is a very philosophical, religious and legal debate: What responsibility does a person have for intentionally or unintentionally infecting another with HIV/AIDS?
The UK courts now have declared that it is a criminal offence but humanitarian organizations all argue that it is the duty of every human being to protect their lives and they cannot blame their sexual partner if they contract HIV/AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases. In other words, they have to know each other very well, and if not then to take a health test, including HIV/AIDS before engaging in unprotected sex. And they have to be completely honest and open about this.
People who live with HIV/AIDS are ordinary people like you and me. Many of them are young, in fact under 30 years of age. So who are you to say that these people should not have a sexual and family life when medical science today allows them to have safe sex? Remember a lot of people living with HIV/AIDS were never informed by their sexual partners or the sexual partners did not even know they had the virus. People should never be condemned for the sins of a partner, although the lesson is people have to take care of their own safety, i.e. never have sex without precaution unless you are sure of the partner. I have no difficulty at all with having an HIV/AIDS girlfriend so long as she has told me about her status.
No body should demonize people because they have HIV/AIDS. I have been in HIV/AIDS clinics in London and was their legal advisor for many years, so I know what I am talking about.
In the early years of my life, I was so terrified of having a Ugandan girlfriend because of this fear of AIDS. I was just petrified because I had seen so many relatives and friends die of the disease. But eventually, I overcame this fear and even helped set up a support organisation here in London and was its leader for many years. And I have since learnt so much about HIV/AIDS, I don’t think people should be bigoted about it. I think HIV/AIDS is all over Uganda, not just Masaka.

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