Living with HIV when one partner is positive and other is negative

- a resident of Rujewa in Mbarali District, Mbeya Region.

Kyando, a father of ten said he was advised to test for HIV by health care workers at Ilembula health centre in 1996, after the death of one of his wives and four children.

He was diagnosed with HIV and from then on he was depressed knowing that he must die because at that time being diagnosed with HIV was like a death sentence. He then moved to his aunt in Morogoro Region following stigma from the community.

To confirm his HIV status, Kyando was again tested at Morogoro hospital and proved to be infected.

“During that period, the Antiretroviral (ARV) to treat HIV could not be available at public health facilities in Tanzania. Only a few people could purchase the drugs from other countries,” Kyando told journalists who are in a tour in Mbeya and Songwe regions to see the various successes achieved through projects funded by the U.S government through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for the past two decades.

He said doctors at Morogoro hospital advised him to order ARVs from South Africa, whereas after a few weeks the drugs arrived and he started using them as prescribed.

“It was not easy for me to continue purchasing ARVs from S.A, it reached a point where I had to sell some of my properties including land plots and houses,” stated the senior citizen, adding after some years, the drugs were available in neighboring Uganda and later in Tanzania in 2005.

He said the drugs were later available at Mbeya Referral Hospital, but it was costly because he had to travel from Mbarali to Mbeya town to get them.

He said for services to be offered at Mbarali, he had to look for 50 HIV infected individuals, and that’s when he went public about his health status and started working with a non-governmental organization—Service, Health, and Development for People living with HIV/Aids (SHIDEPHA). He encouraged people to go for HIV tests so that those diagnosed with the disease start taking ARVs.

“I am thankful to PEPFAR and its implementing partners such as the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research- Department of Defence (WRAIR-DOD) and the he Henry Jackson Foundation Medical Research International (HJFMRl) for making sure we continue to live a healthy life,” he said.

Despite his HIV positive status, Kyando lives a happy life and he is now married to a fourth wife—Galasia Melu (35). The couple is blessed with two children who are HIV negative.

According to Melu, when they started a relationship, people warned her of marrying Kyando because he is HIV positive, but the man assured her of safe sex, insisting that he was properly adhering to treatment and could not easily transmit the virus.

She said they started a relationship in 2016 and got their first child in 2020.  The second one was born in 2022.

“People should stop stigmatizing HIV positive individuals since we are all human beings. My family loves him and he has already paida dowry; so I am his legal wife,” she narrated.

Melu said that since she married Kyando, she has been testing for HIV every three months and the results have always been negative. She said doctors have now advised her to test once annually.

Dr Alick Kayange, senior prevention advisor, WRAIR-DOD at the U.S Embassy in Dar es Salaam said efforts by the U.S government are meant to ensure availability of reagents at every health facility across the country.

He said the efforts by PEPFAR ensure every Tanzanian can test for HIV as well as training of doctors, nurses and counsellors to make sure they properly conduct HIV diagnosis and advise people professionally.

“Through PEPFAR support, all those tested HIV positive can get treatment at nearest clinics. The drugs are free of charge. The drugs enables couples to give birth to HIV negative children,” said Dr Kayange, adding that PEPFAR also facilitated establishment of laboratories, availability of reagents and professional physicians for checking of viral load.

Dr Kayange remarked that the government in collaboration with the U.S government works with the Medical Stores Department (MSD), Ministry of Health and the President’s Office, Region Administration and Local Government (PoRALG) to ensure the drugs and reagents are available all over Tanzania.

He underscored the need for people to prevent themselves from getting new infections to continue living a healthy life. He said ARV drugs help prevent the virus from multiplying and destroying body cells (CD4).

PEPFAR is this year commemorating 20 years of support in Tanzania, with an investment of $6.6 billion. When it began its work in the country there were fewer than 1,000 people on treatment. It is today supporting more than 1.5 million people on life saving ARV treatment.

Following PEPFAR support, Aids-related deaths have declined by 76 percent since its peak in 2003. The number of people who died from the disease in 2021 was 29,000 which is small compared to 120,000 deaths recorded in 2003.