Uganda Draws Back from the AIDS Brink
Chris Baryomunsi, A. B. T. Byaruhanga-Akiiki, and Robert S. Kittel
Dr. Bolingo Tiba sat huddled alone on the floor in a bare room lost in Bukoto, one of Kampala's sprawling residential areas. Not three years before, his busy clinic had been a magnet for the city's impoverished and sickly masses, especially those who suffered the scourge of AIDS. Tiba always had kind words, a gentle touch, and whatever medicines he could acquire to make their lives slightly less burdensome.
That all changed one day when, after helping so many people, he found himself HIV positive. Although he spent a lot of money trying to rule out the infection, it was to no avail. He definitely had the virus. When his family and friends learned of his condition, they abandoned him, except for one brother.
The once bright, energetic, and well-liked doctor became an outcast--socially isolated, rejected, and avoided. A number of his relatives planned to kick him out of his own house and started looting his things. To them, his diagnosis meant he was already dead and should not have any property. Many feared that by associating with him, they might contract the disease.
Read the entire article on the World and I website (new window will open).