Gulu

Okot Bitek is a 17 year old blind man who is also HIV positive and says that he is in need of a radio that will allow him to stick to timelines of his medication regime as dictated by health centre staffs.

Bitek depends on his maternal grandmother Ms Maria Lalam who is 85 years old, and always has to tell him that it is time to take medication, but whenever she is not around, he has to rely on traditional methods of following clocks for instance by listening to the cockerels in the neighbourhood.

“Am not consistent in taking the medicine when my grandmother is away, she is my carer and the bread winner in the home, it is only me and her,” Bitek says.

 

Adding that “At times I imagine that it’s still early morning yet infact the time for taking my medicine has already passed; if I had a radio am sure it will help me make sense of the time and also keep me informed about events in the region as I cannot do anything apart from sitting here the whole day.”

 

Bitek lost his sight in a fall as he was on his way to school in 2006, by then he was a bright pupil in primary four, little did he know that hurting his eyes was the beginning of the end of his sight and studies.

 

His repeated attempts to seek specialist treatment at Gulu regional referral hospital proved futile as doctors told him that they were unable to save his sight.

 

In 2002 Bitek lost both his parents to HIV/Aids and says that he used to fall sick throughout his childhood something that prompted his uncle to test him and found out that he was positive and started him on medication.

 

“I got to know that I contracted HIV/Aids through my parents who died of the same sickness, but my counsellor told me that am not the only child who is HIV positive or suffering from AIDS, and that I can leave a positive life but on medication,” he says.

 

According to the   health alert Program officers Mr December Walter Anywar “a failure to stick to the drug intake regime will increase viral loads in the body making it drug resistant.”

 

“Other opportunistic infections will take advantage of this weakness and attack the body’s defence mechanism, causing the further illness which may easily result in death,” he added.

 

In conclusion, Anywar said that medical personel are always clear as to when and how to take the medication, following the time and taking the medicine as directed is the challenge and assurance to leading a positive normal life.