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It's Friday night and it's the start of a long weekend for most Mozambicans... Rosalina, a receptionist for a South African company in the capital Maputo, was diagnosed HIV-positive early last year. "At first I could not believe it. I also did not want to believe it and for a little while I just forgot about it. But it's not something that you can forget. There is always something in your mind," Rosalina says above the music, but not without checking first that no one is listening.

MOZAMBIQUE: Testing positive

MAPUTO, 25 June (IRIN) - It's Friday night and it's the start of a long
weekend for most Mozambicans. Monday 25 June is Independence Day and a
public holiday. "Mozambicans love to party," Rosalina, a young Mozambican
woman in her mid-twenties says. "We like good music and we love good food,"
she adds laughing. Pointing a finger at a group of young women in the
corner of the crowded bar, Rosalina adds: "Look at them falling over those
men. I used to be like that. Talking to any guy, taking drinks from them and
sometimes going home with them. But that's all changed now ..."

Rosalina, a receptionist for a South African company in the capital Maputo,
was diagnosed HIV-positive early last year. "At first I could not believe
it. I also did not want to believe it and for a little while I just forgot
about it. But it's not something that you can forget. There is always
something in your mind," Rosalina says above the music, but not without
checking first that no one is listening.

"I decided that I needed to take the test. There was this guy and well ...
we were more than just friends and I heard from someone that he had died.
Some said it was tuberculosis. Others said it was AIDS. So I decided that I
needed to know and went to the hospital and took the test," Rosalina told
IRIN. According to Rosalina there was no pre-test counselling or anyone to
tell her what being positive would actually mean. "But I was lucky I knew
about AIDS, not much but something." she said. "When the nurse told me I was
positive. There was no kindness or anything in her voice. It was like she
didn't even want to look at me. I walked in the room and she said that it
was positive and that was it."

According to Fernanda Teixeira, secretary general of the Mozambican Red
Cross, cases like Rosalina's are not unique. "The problem we have at the
moment is that all the efforts are being thrown into prevention. Everybody
is trying so hard and doing everything they can to prevent new infections,
and I agree we should be doing that, but what about those people who are
already living with HIV/AIDS," Teixeira told IRIN. "We need to start
thinking about these people, about how we are going to care for them and
also what the effects are going to be on the communities that they live in."

"I think that we need to start looking at these kind of issues very
seriously. For example, we know - and the statistics show - that women are
more vulnerable than men. Strategies and programmes have to be devised to
look at how we are going to not only help the women but those they leave
behind as well. In Mozambican society, as in most African countries, women
are the primary caregivers."

Last year, according to the UN, Mozambique had an adult HIV prevalence rate
of 16 percent - reaching about 20 percent along some transport corridors. In
its Mozambique National Human Development Report 2000, the UNDP said the
prevalence rate among women was on average 1.6 percent higher than men.
According to the UN there are going to be over 800,000 HIV/AIDS orphans by
2006.

Teixeira told IRIN that some kind of "hope" needed to be created for those
already living with HIV/AIDS. "We have to let these people know that they
have not been forgotten. Mozambique might not have the drugs, right now, to
care for them but that doesn't mean that we can't help them at all," she
added.

She noted that part of caring for people living with HIV/AIDS involved
developing strategies to cope with the millions of people who are going to
start presenting themselves at clinics and health posts around the country
with infections such as tuberculosis. "But nobody, or rather very few, are
thinking like that," she said.

An aid worker with an international organisation in Maputo told IRIN there
were no initiatives to help and care for those living with HIV/AIDS. "We
(local and international organisations working with HIV/AIDS) have not yet
seen any initiatives that talk about caring for those who have AIDS.
Everything is focused on prevention. Prevention is great and I believe that
is the key to stopping this disease. But what about those who are trying to
live with HIV/AIDS," he said. "We need to take a long term view because only
by looking at those already living with HIV/AIDS will Mozambique really be
able to gage the kind of impact that the disease is going to have. It's
going to affect education as more teachers start living with HIV/AIDS. The
health sector is going to come under increasing pressure as so many more
people need help, but this kind of thinking will only start happening when
we take a more holistic approach that involves, education, prevention and
care."

In its report the UNDP noted: "In Mozambique there is a tendency to view the
HIV/AIDS epidemic as less serious than that facing the neighbouring
countries. Unfortunately this is not the case. Despite the fragility of the
data arising from the methods and the small number of sentinel sites, the
available estimates indicate that the levels of infection in Mozambique are
at best, only a few years behind the most severely affected countries in the
region."

Teixeira added that apart from caring for those living with HIV/AIDS, an
environment needed to be created which encouraged people to have themselves
tested. "We need to try and ensure confidentiality. People need to know that
if they get tested and whatever that result is, it will be kept between the
health care worker and the patient. At the moment that is not happening. It
is improving in some areas ..." she noted.

"I also feel that people doing the testing need to be trained and educated
on the fact that they need to be a bit more empathetic towards their
patients and not simply dismiss them as is currently happening in many parts
- not in all but in most. We might not have all the great technology that
some have, but at least we can try and listen and treat people with
dignity," Teixeira said.

"Sometimes I feel that maybe it was better not to know. That when I died I
died and that was it. But I know and I am learning more all the time and I
ask myself why can't the government do more to help. I don't understand
everything about all these drugs they talk about in the newspaper. They say
it's very expensive. Okay but that doesn't mean that they must forget about
us," added Rosalina.

For information from the UN Special Session on HIV/AIDS and a selection of
IRIN features on how Africa is fighting the pandemic, please see:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/webspecials/hiv_aids/index.phtml

[ENDS]

IRIN-SA - Tel: +2711 880 4633
Fax: +2711 447 5472
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