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Seeing AIDS

In Yelwa primary health clinic, Plateau State, Nigeria: In the afternoon of February 16, I was with our medical team in the clinic. Dr. J talked to us over dinner the day before about a mother and a child that they both have advanced stage AIDS. It was very sad listening to how this woman’s husband died and she is alone trying to manage with the baby, in denial about her disease.

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They came in as I was at the clinic. Both of them are malnourished, and one of our staff, having given some injections to the mother, was attending to the baby. This is a 13-month old boy, but he weighs 5 kilos (9 pounds), has no teeth, doesn’t sit or stand. He is so thin, his arms are as thick as a whiteboard marker, or my thumb. When he got IV fluids, you could tell he was in pain from his eyes, he opened his mouth but didn’t have enough strength to cry. The mother was sitting on the bed and her collarbone was so pronounced you would think that was all her clothes were hanging on to. The entire time we were taking care of the baby, the mother’s hand was on his stomach, shaking, with long bony fingers.We are treating this couple with some OI antibiotics, but both really need a lot of nutrition and water. We gave them high calorie milk to make at home and Dr. J went to visit the family to stress how important it is for both to eat well. Speaking with the mother’s sister, she doesn’t think the family is going to be very helpful – denial, stigma, lack of resources and knowledge, all combined make this a difficult case.The boy needed to get some water with ORS so I fed him with a syringe, drop-by-drop as Shade, one of the mental health counselors, shaved his head. First I thought she was shaving him because we needed to put an infusion. When I asked her why she was shaving him she said: “Because his hair looks bushy.” I think this was her way of caring for the boy, to show the family someone cares for them and doesn’t let him look bad even though he is seriously ill.After about 20 minutes of feeding, all the while his eyes looking directly into mine – such sadness in those dark eyes I had trouble not crying as the mother was sitting right there – we finished about ¾ of a cup. Another baby was getting an injection in the same room and as the boy heard the cry, he stopped feeding, listening in. This was the first act of registering the surroundings I had noticed in him. When we finished, he slowly, very slowly – as if it was taking all the energy he had – raised his right arm and scratched his eyebrow with the tiny little fingers. Then, he smiled with a wide, tooth-less smile, cheekbones sticking out and lots of wrinkles on his forehead – right at me.I have now seen AIDS – looking in the eyes of this boy who will most likely never live to his second birthday. His mother is so weak she barely managed to pick him up and raise her leg to get on a motorbike to go home. She died three days later and the baby boy is now with his grandmother. This story is difficult for me to come to terms with – I see the boy’s eyes in my dream and everytime I see a whiteboard marker it reminds me of his arms. Even though I have seen the human tragedy, I still cannot comprehend the magnitude of stories like this happening all over the world every day. Hundreds every day. Millions every year.

Lenka Beňová

Lenka Beňová

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Som človek s nenásytnou chuťou byť a byť tam, kde som ešte nebola. Zoznam autorových rubrík:  SúkromnéNezaradené

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