Pre-Test counseling may help reduce stress

DIELLO is a little child of about eight years old who is still under the care of his parents who are living at Kipunguni “B” at Ukonga ward, Ilala district in Dar es Salaam region. The little Diello has not yet started school owing to an illness under which he is suffering from the persistent skin rashes accompanied by long fever. The two diseases have been troubling and have never given him a relief since his child birth. Without knowing the natural cause of the diseases, his parents who are the born again Christians have been praying to the lord God to help them and their son for the spiritual belief they have and rarely have been attending clinics for proper medical treatment. The child’s health has been deteriorating causing him have a stunted growth despite of his parents’ efforts to let him recover. With his stunted growth, the little Diello appear so old than his normal age. If one take a glimpse on his physical appearance, you might think he is suffering from a malnutrition. Wherever he sits around he looks so unhappy among his playmates. Sympathetic neighbours have been trying to give formal advices to find out what was amiss with this child but in vain, this follows his parents’ insistence of help from the God.
One day his father who works in Zanzibar as a security guard in one of the resorts hotels changed his mind and became so scared with his son’s health and sought for more advices from medical practitioners over the plight of his son who for long time had been using various types of medications without successes.
Jacob Msumi, the real name of Diello’s father decided to consult medical professionals over the issue for assistance and held a private conversation with a special trained medical personnel in one of the medical clinics based in the city, thereby he was counseled. A patient normally receives a face-to-face counseling before they undergo the normal body test. This is known as Pre-test counseling and is aimed at ensuring that one make a well informed decision about whether to have the HIV/AIDS test or not. It then encourages one to explore the possible impact that having the test may have on one’s life.
Voluntary Counseling and Testing, or in short VCT is when a person chooses to undergo HIV/AIDS counseling so that they can make an informed decision about whether to be tested for HIV. Through this test, people becomes aware of their health status and thereby reduces long stress within themselves.

Tanzania’s government is encouraging all of us to come forward to be tested for HIV. The government believes that if many of us get tested, even though we may not be sick, this will help to lessen the amount of stigma associated with the HIV test. Also, if we find out as an earlier stage, that we are infected with HIV.
HIV/AIDS counseling provided at most VCT centers in the country is free and confidential. This means that the counselor cannot tell anyone about the results of an infected person without his or her permission. When the little Diello was tested and later found to have been affected by HIV/AIDS virus, fear reigned within his father and contemplated for a while knowing that such infection must have had been transferred from his mother when she was pregnant. The fact that we're able to prevent mother-to-child transmission, these expectant mothers or new mothers, and even other parents with small children, who may be positive and whose children are not positive, they are going to live longer with the use of anti-retroviral drugs. As HIV virus are always dominant over blood cells found in human bodies, their reaction kills the cells, a result of which the body is no longer in a position to defend itself against any disease attack, thus this is the reason why the little Diello was not getting a cure. On-going counseling helps one to live positively with HIV and provides one with support and guidance in regard to any problem that one may face. However, this kind of counseling that happens after one has received a test result, its aim is to manage the impact that HIV has on one’s life. Other factors are to explore the advantages and disadvantages of telling other people about their status, provide emotional and psychological support and explore issues around death and dying. Getting information on how to live positively with the virus is the same as learning to accept the fact that we are HIV-infected. The infected people have to seek for emotional support, eating a health diet as well as learning how to control the amount of stress in their life and plan for the future. According to Dr. Wilfred Machibya based in Dar es Salaam city voluntary testing can work, particularly now that anti-retroviral drugs are becoming affordable in more developing nations. These life-extending drugs have long been available in rich countries like UK and in the U.S.A

For the infected patients like Anna Ditaro, who's been on ARV drugs for a year, say HIV infection is no longer a death sentence. And she says as priests and political leaders set the example by taking the test, AIDS is beginning to carry far less stigma. The U.S. based Agency for International Development (USAID) supports HIV negative and HIV positive persons to create personalized plans to reduce their risky behavior through its long-standing VCT programs in sub-Saharan Africa Tanzania included. In USAID activities have established testing sites, trained and supported counselors, and promoted community outreach around VCT to enhance community acceptance of HIV/AIDS activities. Currently, USAID supports VCT programs in more than 25 countries. USAID is committed to preventing the transmission of HIV from a mother to her baby. HIV testing and counseling for pregnant women and their families is a critical step in this process. As part of President Bush’s International Mother and Child HIV Prevention initiative, USAID will continue to expand programs to prevent transmission from a mother to her baby.