‘HIV Positive’ Mother Explains How Stigmatization Made Her To Lie For Her Children To Be Accepted-[see photos]

The Ghana Aids Commission has been explaining to the general how stigmatization of people with HIV could worsen the situation of HIV/AIDS cases we currently have in the country. This public education became necessary because people with the virus could decide to spread as punishment for stigmatization and increase the number of cases. There have been reports in other parts of the world that sometimes people with this virus decide to spread it intentionally because society stigmatizes them and doesn’t support them in afflictions.

Crime Check Foundation has revealed that the woman and daughter have also gone through HIV stigmatization. It is actually the mother, Madam Joyce Dzidzor Mensah who is HIV/AIDS positive but the people who know them have included the daughter thinking that the mother might have infected the daughter with the HIV virus. This is soo sad.

Madam Joyce Dzidzor Mensah explained that their Landlord expelled them from their rented apartment when he became aware of her HIV status. Another landlord, she says returned her money to her after she had secured the place to do her barbering business for the reason being that she is HIV positive.

The worse part of it is when a headmaster of a private school in Koforidua sacked her daughter from school with an insubstantial excuse that her mother is HIV positive. At a point in time, Joyce Dzidzor Mensah said that the only option left is to lie that she had never been HIV positive before for the child to be accepted by society. She also added that she decided to make this decision because her GHS 800.00 from Ghana Aids Commission ceased coming.

This and many other reasons led her to do a live HIV test with her kids at a press conference yesterday, 2nd June 2021. What would you have done if you were in her shoes? She has always known her status as HIV positive but decided to be the face of a campaign to help reduce the stigmatization of HIV/AIDS patients at a time many with the disease wouldn’t show their face but unfortunately, this is how some people in our society decided to pay her back.