From Nino Burchuladze in Tbilisi, Georgia, who attended the HIV/AIDS workshop in Bangkok in November
"I don’t remember how long I was sitting on the pavement. I just didn’t want to believe that this was happening on me.
Yesterday in my dreams I was sitting in a Hummer jeep in Iraq, I had already shared my first salary, I wanted to buy a mobile so I could send my photos from Iraq. I didn’t know that everything was ending for me.
'AIDS, it's affirmative,' said the doctor. His words came back to me outside, Wandering the streets. My life was finishing, and all I could think was, 'Why me?'
'If you don’t care about others, think and take care about your own life, my son,' I heard a voice say. The stranger, an old man, was trying to help me to my feet. I smiled a bitter smile; if this man knew that I had AIDS, he wouldn’t even touch me, or might even wish me dead."
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That’s how Levani remembers that day. Levani is a soldier, and was preparing to leave for Iraq, when a regular medical check showed that he had contracted HIV/AIDS.
In Georgia, there are many people like him. AIDS is no longer seen as God's punishment for drug addicts and prostitutes. Many people living with AIDS today have never had any contact with those worlds. Even so, in Georgia they fear rejection by society, that they will be denied medical treatment, refused jobs and be rejected by family and friends.
Levani says: “For a few days I considered this situation. I decided to leave home. I wanted to avoid the hostility of society, from members of my family once they knew about my disease. I had heard somewhere that once in Kakheti (eastern Georgia) a man in a similar situation left home and lived alone to avoid offending his family. "While I can. I will hide it. Well, what else can I do, I can’t commit suicide.”
As long as society treats such people like lepers instead of showing sympathy, HIV/AIDS will claim more and more lives. The numbers are rising crazily. More people have HIV/AIDS than are registered. Many people take risks, lots do not realise their condition.
Experts say the situation in Georgia is worrying. Narcotics are illegal but widespread, and many women addicts turn to prostitution to fund their drug habit. Few visit doctors. This situation is especially bad and rapidly worsening in the Shida Kartli region of eastern Georgia and its capital city, Gori.
At this very moment, when Georgia is facing a narcotics epidemic, The Global Fund, a public/private partnership dedicated to attracting and disbursing resources to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, has refused to extend AIDS funding. This decision will halt free programs through which drug addicts have access to methadone instead of narcotics. All organizations working to protect drug addicts and prostitutes from HIV/AIDS will be unable to treat people living with the disease. The medicine is so expensive that few can afford to buy even one day's dosage.
The Global fund refused to embark on the second round of this program, saying it doubted its cost effectiveness. Experts believe, however, that halting the program, now will cause much harm; they urge an extention for six months or a year.
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