Bleiberecht für AsylwerberInnen mit HIV/AIDS

ich möchte hier eine informative email weitergeben, die aufzeigt, was menschen passiert,wenn man sie mit HIV erkrankung z.bsp. nach nigeria abschiebt. leider geshieht das immer wieder....darum ist es sehr, sehr wichtig wenn viele menschen diese äußerst wichtige petition unterschreiben....in der hoffnung, dass sich dann die gesetzte endlich zu mehr menschlichkeit ändern werden!!!

Dear Brigitte,

I am very sorry for the delay in replying your mail. I needed to be very careful because of many scams on the line, so many people get my mails and my phone contact from my organizational web site, only to use it for defrauding me and my organization.

Anyway, after carefully considering the mails received from you, I feel the genuineness of this mail.

To answer all your questions, there are over 4 Million Nigerians living with HIV and AIDS according to the 2006 USAID global report. Thousands are dying on a daily basis due to lack of access to Comprehensive and integrated Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support services.

I am speaking from experience, and I know of how many family members I have lost to AIDS in the last three years, I have lost six members of my extended family to AIDS Complications between 2007- 2009. Just two years. I am infected with HIV my self and I have been living with the virus since February 7th, 2005. I am alive today and work as the National Coordinator of Association of Positive Youth Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (APYIN), Abuja National Headquarter.

Before then, access to ARVs was a mirage in the country, and there was a wide gap between the rich and the poor.The rich who can afford to buy the drugs and consult private doctors in foreign countries are doing so without notice of being infected, but we had an opportunity in 2005 after the released of the PEPFAR fund of 2004, Nigeria hosted the International Conference for AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) in December 2005. All the activists and Young people living with HIV/AIDS in the Country advocated and protested for Free Comprehensive Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support services for those living with HIV in Nigeria. We were concerned about the Abuja Declaration on Universal access to treatment by July 2010.

On January 1st, 2006, the Former President Olusegun Obasanjo declared that ARVs for People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria should be free! But that was not what we wanted, AIDS treatment is more than ARVs, we never got access to comprehensive treatment and services. AIDS Treatment is not comprehensive in Nigeria, if this people are sent back, I promise you, your COUNTRY IS SENDING THEM HOME TO DIE! Comprehensive treatment is all about;

a) Access to regular supply of ARVs - This is not stable in Nigeria due to poor logistics and can make a client develop drug Resistance, I have been given Nevirapine and Stavudine only to be told to come back the next week for Lamuvidine, that is suicidal at General Hospital Lagos Island in 2008 after MSF close down their HIV Free treatment.
b) Access to Treatment and Adherence Counseling - Over labored nurses or Doctors are used as adherence counselors and do not have the time to spend with clients considering the number of clients seen per day
c) Access to routine medical laboratory - Many Government Hospitals do not have CD4 Count machine, mine was 475 and was done last in June 2008 by Medecines Sans Frontiers (MSF) in Lagos Hospital before they close down their HIV Services in Nigeria
d) Access to Nutritional assessment, counseling and supplement - Millions of HIV Positive clients in Nigeria had not have access to this services, I only know my BMI (Body Mass Index) using the weight and height measurement
e) Treatment of Opportunistic Infections like Malaria, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis and many more - All this killed six of my family members, due to lack of access to treatment of such infections.
f) Access to free PMTCT (Prevention of Mother- Child Transmission) - Thousands of children still get infected through their mothers in Nigeria

About the geographical coverage, only the tertiary health institutions and in selected states like Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja and Benue among others have treatment services for ARVs, now, the Government is scaling up treatment through the Global fund round 5 and round 9 support to the country, but Nigerians do travels from one state to another to access services, people sleep at the Hospital just to make sure they can consult a medical officer, get ARVs and travel back to their states. That is where Nigerian Government is failing to achieve the Universal Access to Treatment.

It is very funny when, you were talking about free treatment for refugees and deported Nigerians when Nigerians who are citizens do not have access to those services. Well, it will interest you to know that even, Prison inmates in Nigeria do not have access to HIV Prevention services, no condom policy, it is not available, inmates do not have access to HIV Counseling and testing, how will they have access to treatment services. Thousands of Deportees, Prison inmates and refugees died as a result of access to comprehensive prevention, treatment, care and support services in Nigeria.

Only International Humanitarian Organizations like Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors without Boarders (MSF) provide free comprehensive HIV services to Lagos resident, and they have closed down this project since 2008 due to lack of funding. Any deportees, Prison inmates and refugees with HIV is rather good to be buried, because my government is not responsible to the plights of the citizens. Six members of my families who died were neither deportees, non Prison inmates, but still could not access services.

Finally, I would love to remind you that, there is a second epidemic that kills thousands of people living with HIV in Nigeria, it is not Hepatitis, non malaria, neither is it Tuberculosis, it is Stigmatization! Despite the level of awareness and investment of Global Fund, USAID, and other international organizations, the level of stigmatization is still very high, people get fired at their work place because they were infected, husbands and family members sent wives packing because she can not breast feed her baby due to AIDS infection, Students were denial admission, graduation at school because the management find out they are infected, the Christian Institutions will not hold a marriage ceremony if one is infected and the other is not, community members can isolate and discriminate a family who have an infected member with in. I personally lost all my child hood friends because am infected. It is just sick in the country, the level of stigmatization and discrimination is alarming, ARVs can not cure this stigma, it is in the sense of human, and we are all locked up in a vicious cycle of it, people still believe that you can get infected if mosquito bite an infected person and bite you.

Mind you, since 2005, the Civil Society Organizations, activists and people living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria have been trying to influence, pressurize and advocate to the legislative arm of Government in Nigeria to pass "Anti-Stigmatization Bill" it remains a dream at the National Assembly with no hope of such a bill becoming law, so there is no save haven for people living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. But, we shall not loss hope, we shall keep fighting, because one day, we shall overcome!

I do not know Mr. Jubril Olawunmi and Olowookere Olakunle, but, am sure, Association of Positive Youth Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (APYIN) and the Network of People living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN) will not pray for their immediate death, Please save them by supporting them with the necessary health services and Permanent residency, so that, they can have the hope to leave again! HOPE IS VITAL!

Because they can not get this ARV combination in Nigeria Kivexa, Viramune and Lansoprazol, only if he is rich, then he can afford to order them from abroad. Only few combination of first line drugs is available in Nigeria, and once you fail the drugs, the second line options are limited, we have Kaletra at few institutions, but the preservation condition will affect a client level of drug efficacy because, we do not have power supply in the country.

If you consult any Government agency or International partners in Nigeria, they will tell you success stories that only existed on their papers and web site, but the community of people living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria will tell you what is happening at the community level, the practicals.

Thanks and I do hope to hear from you soonest, to know how helpful was my response to your questions.

Sincerely Yours,

Victor Olaore Omoshehin
National Coordinator,
Association of Positive Youth Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (APYIN)
4, Jaba Close,
Civil Society House, Area 11,
Garki Abuja, Nigeria
Tel: +234 803 574 1931
E-mails: victoromosehin@yahoo.com, victor@apyin.net
Web site: www.apyin.net