Mary*, one of our beneficiaries, is now 16 years old. She has been supported by Omoana for 9 years. An orphan, she was born with AIDS and lives with her grandmother, who is also HIV-positive. Triple therapy is a lifelong treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS. Our beneficiaries are made aware of the importance of taking the pills regularly and consistently, and of the potential consequences if this is not done.
However, some of them, for reasons linked to adolescence or sometimes a certain distaste for life, stop taking their treatment regularly. They then develop resistance to the triple therapy, as well as numerous infections. Mary has been through this phase. She is now in critical condition, but is receiving quality care in one of the country’s best clinics, in Kampala. She has a pretty face and a slim, slender physique. The nurses tell her that once she has recovered, she could become a model. I’d already thought about it, imagining her one day becoming Miss Uganda! But she told me that she would prefer to become a doctor or a nurse, to help as she had been helped. I told her that she should take her medication more carefully and above all be very studious at school. Now she’s looking to the future again. Let’s hope she can go back to school in 2014. In the meantime, the staff at Omoana House are researching and implementing a strategy to deal with this problem, which is widespread throughout the country.
Adrien Genoud
Coordinator
* fictive name
