This is the story, a 39-old man from Lesotho who found out that he and his wife were HIV positive. His name is Theko and he says: Three years ago my wife became pregnant. The pregnancy was unplanned but we were both excited to have a baby on the way.
From the start I was interested in what was said to her at the clinic. Then one day she said all the pregnant women had been encouraged to test for HIV. I went with her to the clinic and we both tested. The results came back positive for us both.
I was shocked and frightened. I wanted someone to blame, yet I knew that I had been faithful. ‘Malineo had also never given me a reason to believe she could cheat.”
The nurse warned us that it was important for us to be supportive of each other. When we got home, we sat down and talked about everything the nurse had told us.
I realised that my wife needed me and so did my baby. She started getting treatment at the clinic to prevent Mother-To-Child-Transmission of HIV and I went with her.
When the time came for her to give birth to our baby, I rushed her to the hospital as the nurse had encouraged us to do. I stayed with her, and saw the birth of our beautiful baby girl.
Our daughter was tested and her results came out negative. My wife and I are not taking anti-retroviral treatment yet, but we live each day, loving and taking care of each other. We want to be there when our daughter starts to date and maybe gets married.
Protect each other
Theko’s story raises a very important point that many of us forget when it comes to protecting ourselves against HIV: Even if you and your current partner are faithful to each other, there is a risk that one of you could pass HIV to the other if he/she is HIV positive and does not know it.
Therefore, you must protect your new partner from HIV until you are certain that you do not have the virus.
This means that:
- You use a condom when you have sex until you are certain that you do not have HIV.
- You go together to test for HIV.
- You take steps to protect each other if one of you is HIV positive.
- You remain faithful to each other.
