Women living with HIV during a workshop on how to cope with stigma. More women than men faced stigma. 34.8 per cent of sampled women faced stigma, while 22.4 per cent of sampled men did.
Ines Rutayisire Umurerwa
Wednesday, March 01, 2023
When Esperance Maniriho, 47, a resident of Rubavu District, found out that she was HIV positive in 2007, she thought of committing suicide—it didn’t help that she was mocked by the neighbours and relatives who knew about it.
People, including Maniriho’s family, started to defame her and say hurtful words to her. Self-love was distant to her, but her husband who was also HIV positive was there to comfort her and inform her more about HIV, whilst encouraging her to take antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) for HIV control.
Maniriho was infected by her husband who had several other wives, some of whom were among the people who would not go near her. They would laugh at her from a distance, and not even touch anything she did, let alone share with food her.