HIV, Faith and The High Cost Of Stigma In Anambra
Nearly three decades after his HIV diagnosis, John Ibekwe says the virus no longer frightens him.
What still hurts is the stigma, quiet, persistent and often more damaging than HIV itself.
“I have learnt to live with HIV,” he says. “What I am still learning to live with is how people treat you once they know.”
He recalls how even his brother weaponised his status after their mother’s death. “He reported me to our uncles. When I explained that you cannot contract HIV through association, they understood, and even began bringing others to me for counselling.”
Mr Ibekwe, a person living with HIV (PLWH) and advocate, took a bold decision in 1996, when HIV was heavily stigmatised in Nigeria.
He married his wife in church, fully aware that she was also HIV positive, despite resistance from church authorities.
“I knew her status,” he recalls. “Yet the church tried to stop the marriage because of a policy on HIV.”
Responding to this, Catholic priest and scholar, Rev. Father Prof. Josephat Oguejiofor, clarifies that the Church does not prohibit marriage based on HIV status alone.
“The concern is informed consent,” he explains. “Couples are required to test in Church-owned hospitals to ensure no one is concealing their status. It is to prevent fraud, not exclusion.”
Yet stigma did not end at the altar. Mr Ibekwe recounts repeated discrimination in hospitals, hesitation by health workers, excessive precautions, and subtle signs of rejection.
“Once your status is known, the attitude changes,” he says. “You begin to feel like a burden.”
The Anambra State HIV Programme Coordinator, Dr Tonia Mbagwu, acknowledges that stigma persists in healthcare settings.
“Yes, it exists,” she admits. “That is why we are intensifying training for health workers and empowering people living with HIV to know their rights.”
She also warns against self-stigmatisation, where fear and shame keep people from disclosing their status or accessing care.
“HIV is no longer a death sentence,” she says. “Disclosure, when done safely, improves treatment and quality of life.”
Dr Mbagwu adds that stigma is undermining efforts to expand HIV testing at a time when foreign donor funding is declining.
“For programmes to survive, state governments must take ownership,” she notes. “But without people coming forward to test, planning and sustainability become difficult.”
For Mr Ibekwe, the lesson is clear: silence sustains the virus, while stigma threatens lives.
“HIV did not defeat me,” he says. “Stigma almost did.”
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