|
|
|||
|
|||
 |
|
|
 |
||
|
February 9th, 2007, Thanda, by Jim
Thanda was one of our Ndawana community health providers. We used to call them home based carers, but the title keeps changing. Thanda was a lovely young woman, beautiful to look at, beautiful inside. She was shy and soft spoken, and while we were in Canada in summer 2006 she was one of two women who kept the programs going in our absence.
Thanda, like all the 12 community health providers, was very well trained. She was able to treat and counsel and teach about HIV/AIDS. She had home based care, DOT TB support, sputum collection, HIV counseling and testing, and ARV literacy training. Having all that training meant we didn’t need to take people to the hospital for so many things that we can now do in Ndawana. That training meant that people could begin treatment with anti-retrovirals (ARVs) in two weeks after learning of their CD4 count instead of up to seven weeks (more like over three months at the Underberg Clinic). That training meant that people are tested and treated in Ndawana, and most especially, that training and our HIV/AIDS testing and treatment program meant that stigma has all but been eliminated in Ndawana.
In March Thanda learned that her CD4 count was 140. A count of 200 is the threshold for beginning anti-retroviral treatment (ART), and she was well below it. But Thanda felt fine and looked fine. And most of all, Thanda was afraid to let her mother know that she was HIV positive. All of us knew it, and probably other people in the village knew it. There was no stigma from others, but Thanda stigmatized herself. That’s not uncommon, and that’s harder to deal with.
We begged Thanda to begin ART. We told her that she has two children, and to think of what her illness would do to them. We told her that her mother would know eventually; because ultimately she would become stage 4 AIDS and that would be obvious. But she still felt good and thought she could wait to decide. And a low CD4 count means you are susceptible to any infection that comes along. Thanda suddenly became gravely ill on January 13, and just two weeks ago she finally agreed to start ART. Yesterday Thanda died. We all loved Thanda, and we all wanted her to be well, and she waited too long.
Thanda died exactly two years after Sibusiso died. We are making enormous strides to fight HIV/AIDS in the village. That still doesn’t mean loved ones don’t die.
|
||
