Antanazio,
Is hereby named a #RedRibbonWarrior. Through his acts of life saving heroism in the HIV/AIDS fight, over 200 people’s lives have been saved in Lilongwe, Malawi.
Antanazio is a husband. Antanazio is someone who has a heart for other people. Antanazio is an advocate encouraging others out there to know their status. Here is his message to you:
“I am 48 years old. I am married, I have 3 children, 4 grand children. I was born in a family which had 10 children, I was the 7th born. We are all alive. I was diagnosed with HIV in 2004 and started treatment in 2005. It was very difficult for me to accept. It took some volunteers who were operating in our community to encourage me and then I accepted and started treatment. It saved my life.
It’s really important that we take part in saving other peoples lives. We take Time to reflect and consider that in one way or another we are helping people to cope living with HIV. In work right now, there are more than 200 people that I am taking care of. — I would want to tell people out there that HIV diagnosis is not the end of your world. When you’re told that you are HIV positive the best one can do is to be started on treatment and to be adherent to their medication and from there you can then stay like any other person, be productive at your family level and even at your community level.
To people who stigmatize, I would say that it is a bad thing to stigmatize people based on their HIV status because people living with HIV have a future ahead of them. They can have children and they can also take care of their families and even be crucial as citizens.
I am someone who has a heart for other people. During my work as an expert client I have helped so many people. Eventually they come to my place simply to say, thank you. You have helped us. I am someone who is very much free to disclose my positive HIV status so that other people are helped eventually. So of note is the fact that my wife is HIV negative. In the first place people thought that we didn’t need to be together, they wanted our marriage to end but I am happy that we are still together. I know that we are still together because I had a word with her and told her that to be found with HIV doesn’t mean your life has ended.”
One thing that drives me is the fact that when I was very sick, and it was very difficult for me to accept that I was HIV positive, it was my peers to support me up and because of this I feel like I must do the same and help others as well who are struggling. And this makes me love my job. I work as an expert client and I support those who live with HIV including those who are newly diagnosed.
Even though it is difficult for some to receive their HIV results. We do not become tired. We continue to follow them up until they are able to accept their status and start treatment. We provide counseling. We also support them to stay on treatment.”
