Bukavu Week 2.5

Friday.


First day of filming. It is also the first time 6 veteran AIDS workers are getting tested for HIV antibodies. It all sprung out of a presentation where is said I asked people to do what I was willing to do myself. If they were promoting VCT services (volunteer counseling and testing), they should know the process themselves.

Testing here is done quite quickly. A rapid test from one maker is controlled against that from another and if both coincide, a result is deemed conclusive. If not, another one is done to be the tiebreaker. In this case a Determine test is done in tandem with a Unigold. If they show different results, a Western Blot is done.

They are now also looking at HIV strains. Most are HIV-1, but there are some HIV-2’s showing up and some carrying both. Too bad they are not doing demographics to see who is carrying what.

In about 30 minutes you go from giving blood, to receiving your results. One by one they gave, and came out with the good news that although they have had risk behavior, they all came through with negative results!

And now after years of preaching others to test, they have walked the way themselves. It has clearly enhanced their ability to do their work and get a new sense of pride. Pride that they have done the right thing and they can be a part of the movement to know your status and keep it from changing.