An HIV/AIDS patient
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23rd December, 2011
Rescue Me! HIV-AIDS (Part 2)
It never stops. The killing machine is at it again.
On May 9, 2011, Hagar Ammah and Joyce Fosu reported in The Ghanaian Times. “16,000 Ghanaians will die of AIDS this year.”
That means 44 deaths a day; approximately two per hour. Nor, is that all. “In addition, 13,000 new infections will be recorded.” (My italics. Correct figures are always higher than recorded ones.)
SILENT ASSASSIN
This is the season of peace on earth and goodwill to all men. I’m sure you’ve already seen the chatter (‘seen’ is not an error) of the next in the line of the silent assassin’s fire: AIDS.
(Let’s call HIV/AIDS, AIDS). If you haven’t seen it, please pause. Glance at twitters. You cannot miss the yell: “Rescue me!” You’ll be blinded by the torrent of this tragic traffic.
THE VULNERABLE
The Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) was the source for Ammah and Fosu. We met GAC last week. We found that, as for efforts to control AIDS, our government is ‘doing plenty’. We applauded.
For the purposes of today’s rescue mission, GAC addresses on its ample website five subsets, namely: at Risk Population; Orphans and Vulnerable Children; Risk Groups (repeated); Workplace; Youth. We shall see two irresistible forces marshaled against the mission.
They are peer pressure and the most powerful of desires: the basic, animal instinct to mate. A third force aids and abets them. It is the pope-blessed popular pagan practices in festive seasons such as this.
WORKPLACE AND YOUTH
Tuberculosis and AIDS make a pair of ugly bedfellows. New infection rates of both are high among the populations at risk. We know them. The politically correct label for one set is commercial sex workers.
We know the second set: men who sleep with men. [They used to be called homosexuals.] The hospitality industry is an unsuspecting third set.
TOURISM HUB
Government’s strategy is to turn Ghana into a tourism hub in the sub-region. Which sub-set in that industry is at high risk? In a perfect world, that sub-set could come mostly from the example in this news items: “On May 14, 2011, a 32-year-old maid at a hotel in New York alleged that, a man had sexually assaulted her after she had entered his suite.”[Source: Wikipedia].
AN INSPECTOR’S DAUGHTER
But, the world is imperfect. That’s why daughters of police inspectors are also at risk. Mary Mends was 16, but looked 24. Spoilt to her teeth, Mary already had her own car and a gold-plated crown on one of her teeth.
She was a diabetic. But, she’d flee from home, unpursued, to avoid jabs of insulin to treat her diabetes. In the past few months, something new and nasty set in: Mary’s swift loss of weight.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH HER
Mary invited verbal jabs in Gã. “Ber merni feor ler ni eta loh neker? Aloõ AIDS, er?” “What on earth is wrong with her? She’s so, so skinny? Can it be AIDS?” Observers would not be gagged.
Things came to a head Xmas eve last year.
Mary was developing a sore throat. Although she needed to stay indoors, Mary escaped. [The tigress could not change her stripes.] She drove to yet another all-night party. It was her last. The dusty winds of Harmatan did the rest. That midnight, Mary was rushed to hospital. Pneumonia had set in. Acute lung failure followed…Then came coma in uncomely haste.
NOT IN WHISPERS
‘Rule out AIDS.’ [Doctors don’t really whisper such matters.] They have protocols to follow. It’s in the health interest of the all-conquering public. Here’s the rule: Skinny teenagers with unexplained, swift loss of weight, who are admitted in unexplained coma, must be screened for AIDS. Fiat! Not negotiable.
Days later, during Mary’s memorial service, the unsung chorus would not go away. “Was it AIDS?” [Observers would not be gagged.] Mary’s mom is a soloist in the church choir. Her dad is chief inspector of police. On Sundays, he doubles as catechist, and the chief bringer-in of the offertory. He’d stride to the altar, bearing beggars’ bags bulging with coins, in the measured steps of borrowed priesthood.
MUCH DARKNESS, MUCH LIGHT
How could daughters of inspectors of police and catechists contract AIDS? Unthinkable. Unutterable. How could there be so much darkness under so much light? Someone must have missed the silent cry: Rescue me! Or, were the forces too strong? Or, was it yet another perfect storm?
UN-PRIESTLY HASTE
There had been an un-priestly haste to see off Mary’s corpse. In her untimely but patently predictable death, a spoilt child had become an embarrassment for her parents, especially her dad. He was wailing in silence: “Rescue me!” Too many questions from too many strangers were proving a cross for him.
You’ll never guess who or what was the knight in shining armour. It was Tradition. Tradition dictates that, when a couple loses their first child, they must burry him or her ASAP. [Readers may recall this tradition? Remember Efia Quansah? The 13-year-old childmother from Adeiso whose un-ripe womb burst? And, she came to a bloody end?]
AKUADRUHE’OTO YER DZENG: SKIDS! WATCH OUT
And so, on with the youth of today. What is there that they don’t already know about AIDS? They are well-lettered, E-savvy and no sorcerers’ apprentices at twitter. To them, what can this column write on AIDS, except what’s already written? GAC posts much more on its wealthy website.
But, the youth can be reminded about one thing: “Akuadruhe’oto yer dzeng”. This is a Ga proverb. It means “Banana skins abound in the world.” It can be interpreted in three words. “Skids! Watch out.”
At the time that the gentleman just cited from Wikipedia stood accused, he was the boss of the IMF (International Monetary Fund). He had eyes on the presidency of France. He hit his particular banana skin. O! What an almighty skid there followed! Grand plans were flushed down un-fragrant pits.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Double back to the report of Hagar Ammah and Joyce Fosu in The Times. Meet a certain Ms. Dansua. She also preached what we all preach. “Education and training are key measures in reducing TB and AIDS. Prominence should be given to preventive aspects rather than curative measures.”
POISONOUS PARAPETS
If you’d listen again, you can hear, between her sobs, the unspoken plea from Mary’s sister, Justina, a third year law student: “Mary was precocious and unruly. I grant you that. But she was no strumpet…No employee in any hotel. She was not dumb. What then do you think are the most formidable barriers to the prevention of AIDS in the likes of Mary Mends?”
Double back again: to the beginning. This may be the season of peace on earth and goodwill to all men. But, it is also the season of banana skins. They may be disguised in all-nights, prayer camps and things. But they are no less slippery. From the poisonous parapets of the ubiquitous and unforgiving peer pressure… Mom…Dad…Pastor…God! Shield the joyous. And, please, rescue the youth.
TO ALL OUR READERS: WELLNESS IN ALL ITS FULLNESS, AND, THE SEASON’S GREETINGS.
On May 9, 2011, Hagar Ammah and Joyce Fosu reported in The Ghanaian Times. “16,000 Ghanaians will die of AIDS this year.”
That means 44 deaths a day; approximately two per hour. Nor, is that all. “In addition, 13,000 new infections will be recorded.” (My italics. Correct figures are always higher than recorded ones.)
SILENT ASSASSIN
This is the season of peace on earth and goodwill to all men. I’m sure you’ve already seen the chatter (‘seen’ is not an error) of the next in the line of the silent assassin’s fire: AIDS.
(Let’s call HIV/AIDS, AIDS). If you haven’t seen it, please pause. Glance at twitters. You cannot miss the yell: “Rescue me!” You’ll be blinded by the torrent of this tragic traffic.
THE VULNERABLE
The Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) was the source for Ammah and Fosu. We met GAC last week. We found that, as for efforts to control AIDS, our government is ‘doing plenty’. We applauded.
For the purposes of today’s rescue mission, GAC addresses on its ample website five subsets, namely: at Risk Population; Orphans and Vulnerable Children; Risk Groups (repeated); Workplace; Youth. We shall see two irresistible forces marshaled against the mission.
They are peer pressure and the most powerful of desires: the basic, animal instinct to mate. A third force aids and abets them. It is the pope-blessed popular pagan practices in festive seasons such as this.
WORKPLACE AND YOUTH
Tuberculosis and AIDS make a pair of ugly bedfellows. New infection rates of both are high among the populations at risk. We know them. The politically correct label for one set is commercial sex workers.
We know the second set: men who sleep with men. [They used to be called homosexuals.] The hospitality industry is an unsuspecting third set.
TOURISM HUB
Government’s strategy is to turn Ghana into a tourism hub in the sub-region. Which sub-set in that industry is at high risk? In a perfect world, that sub-set could come mostly from the example in this news items: “On May 14, 2011, a 32-year-old maid at a hotel in New York alleged that, a man had sexually assaulted her after she had entered his suite.”[Source: Wikipedia].
AN INSPECTOR’S DAUGHTER
But, the world is imperfect. That’s why daughters of police inspectors are also at risk. Mary Mends was 16, but looked 24. Spoilt to her teeth, Mary already had her own car and a gold-plated crown on one of her teeth.
She was a diabetic. But, she’d flee from home, unpursued, to avoid jabs of insulin to treat her diabetes. In the past few months, something new and nasty set in: Mary’s swift loss of weight.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH HER
Mary invited verbal jabs in Gã. “Ber merni feor ler ni eta loh neker? Aloõ AIDS, er?” “What on earth is wrong with her? She’s so, so skinny? Can it be AIDS?” Observers would not be gagged.
Things came to a head Xmas eve last year.
Mary was developing a sore throat. Although she needed to stay indoors, Mary escaped. [The tigress could not change her stripes.] She drove to yet another all-night party. It was her last. The dusty winds of Harmatan did the rest. That midnight, Mary was rushed to hospital. Pneumonia had set in. Acute lung failure followed…Then came coma in uncomely haste.
NOT IN WHISPERS
‘Rule out AIDS.’ [Doctors don’t really whisper such matters.] They have protocols to follow. It’s in the health interest of the all-conquering public. Here’s the rule: Skinny teenagers with unexplained, swift loss of weight, who are admitted in unexplained coma, must be screened for AIDS. Fiat! Not negotiable.
Days later, during Mary’s memorial service, the unsung chorus would not go away. “Was it AIDS?” [Observers would not be gagged.] Mary’s mom is a soloist in the church choir. Her dad is chief inspector of police. On Sundays, he doubles as catechist, and the chief bringer-in of the offertory. He’d stride to the altar, bearing beggars’ bags bulging with coins, in the measured steps of borrowed priesthood.
MUCH DARKNESS, MUCH LIGHT
How could daughters of inspectors of police and catechists contract AIDS? Unthinkable. Unutterable. How could there be so much darkness under so much light? Someone must have missed the silent cry: Rescue me! Or, were the forces too strong? Or, was it yet another perfect storm?
UN-PRIESTLY HASTE
There had been an un-priestly haste to see off Mary’s corpse. In her untimely but patently predictable death, a spoilt child had become an embarrassment for her parents, especially her dad. He was wailing in silence: “Rescue me!” Too many questions from too many strangers were proving a cross for him.
You’ll never guess who or what was the knight in shining armour. It was Tradition. Tradition dictates that, when a couple loses their first child, they must burry him or her ASAP. [Readers may recall this tradition? Remember Efia Quansah? The 13-year-old childmother from Adeiso whose un-ripe womb burst? And, she came to a bloody end?]
AKUADRUHE’OTO YER DZENG: SKIDS! WATCH OUT
And so, on with the youth of today. What is there that they don’t already know about AIDS? They are well-lettered, E-savvy and no sorcerers’ apprentices at twitter. To them, what can this column write on AIDS, except what’s already written? GAC posts much more on its wealthy website.
But, the youth can be reminded about one thing: “Akuadruhe’oto yer dzeng”. This is a Ga proverb. It means “Banana skins abound in the world.” It can be interpreted in three words. “Skids! Watch out.”
At the time that the gentleman just cited from Wikipedia stood accused, he was the boss of the IMF (International Monetary Fund). He had eyes on the presidency of France. He hit his particular banana skin. O! What an almighty skid there followed! Grand plans were flushed down un-fragrant pits.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Double back to the report of Hagar Ammah and Joyce Fosu in The Times. Meet a certain Ms. Dansua. She also preached what we all preach. “Education and training are key measures in reducing TB and AIDS. Prominence should be given to preventive aspects rather than curative measures.”
POISONOUS PARAPETS
If you’d listen again, you can hear, between her sobs, the unspoken plea from Mary’s sister, Justina, a third year law student: “Mary was precocious and unruly. I grant you that. But she was no strumpet…No employee in any hotel. She was not dumb. What then do you think are the most formidable barriers to the prevention of AIDS in the likes of Mary Mends?”
Double back again: to the beginning. This may be the season of peace on earth and goodwill to all men. But, it is also the season of banana skins. They may be disguised in all-nights, prayer camps and things. But they are no less slippery. From the poisonous parapets of the ubiquitous and unforgiving peer pressure… Mom…Dad…Pastor…God! Shield the joyous. And, please, rescue the youth.
TO ALL OUR READERS: WELLNESS IN ALL ITS FULLNESS, AND, THE SEASON’S GREETINGS.
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