Roseacres Clinic celebrates World Aids Day

Life Roseacres Clinic celebrated international World Aids Day, last Monday.

The staff of the hospital were treated to a talk by Dimakatso Mookodi, who has been living with HIV since she was 22 years old.

The 34-year-old wife and mother finds it important to share her life with nursing staff.

“You offer pre-counselling and post-counselling when someone is tested for HIV, but you seldom hear how the patient has gone on to live their life with HIV,” she said in opening.

Mookodi went on to explain how she had been living for the last 12 years, including her worries of giving birth.

Throughout her presentation she tried to show the importance of both knowing and sharing your status.

“We need to get rid of the stigmatism attached to being HIV-positive,” she said.

“It is this stigmatism that causes people to hide their status from those around them and, in the heat of passion, this can lead to regrets.

“I never wanted to infect anyone.”

Mookodi closed off the talk with her hope for the near future: “Zero new infections, that it what we need to achieve.”