THE SECRET #10: Diary of a Village Pharmacist

I couldn’t believe my ears!
“You mean say you don go lab do HIV test?”
She nodded
“When my sickness come dey serious and ee wan be like say I wan die, I come dey suspect say na the same sickness do my oga dat time. I tell am say he know wetin dey do me and he dey see say I dey die. Na dat time my oga come write XYZ test for paper. He come send me go lab. When result come say I dey positive, he come carry me go the General Hospital whey dem dey treat am”

I sighed.

“The tin whey pain me pass be say when him sick dat first time. I follow am go hospital go do the test. You no beleef say when dem wan tell him the result, dem say make I comot. I ask dem why dem no wan tell me, I tell dem say I be him, wfie, Dem no answer me. And my oga no tell me. That man wicked!”

Tears welled up in my eyes…

“So you don dey take the medicine?” I asked

“Yes o. As I come start na that time I come dey get mysef”

Every now and then she comes to the Pharmacy for her refills and BP check. She is doing much better now.

But I can’t help thinking she would have avoided getting HIV if I had broken this confidentiality rule

My Pharmacy is now an out-patient center for people living with HIV.

One of the things we do when they come for their refills is to fill a questionnaire.

One question there says “Does your partner know your HIV status?”

I am so concerned about the many NO responses

Another question says, “Do you use a condom during every encounter?”

You can guess what the response is!

They say the goal is to achieve ZERO new cases.

Can this really happen?
Just thinking aloud.

I remain Aunty Pharmacist!

THE END