Success Stories
Alex
Alex and his wife visit the Gede clinic regularly. He is HIV-positive; his wife is not. He could not believe he was positive for HIV when he ?rst came to Gede’s facilities to accompany a friend who wanted to be tested. Encouraged to know his status, he willingly underwent an HIV screening test. When he learned that he was positive, he blamed his wife for having gone to her village and for boasting that she works in a tall of?ce building, and so people from her village cast an evil eye upon her that caused him to be HIV positive.
Alex is an engineer, but his academic training did not seem to matter when he was trying to understand why he contracted HIV. Like many Nigerians who fear of dying from AIDS, and who experience the stigma and discrimination towards those who have the disease, it was not easy for Alex to acknowledge how he got infected.
After being counseled by Gede clinical staff, Alex and his wife knew that a person who is HIV-positive can live a normal life, that being HIV-positive is not a death sentence. Gede’s clinical staff assist people like Alex to see their doctor, get regularly tested, and adhere to their prescribed medication.
Since its establishment in 2003, thousands of people have availed of Gede’s clinical services. A total of 2,253 clients were seen by the doctors in 2007. Of the registered clients, 44% were men and 55% were women. About 3% were children aged 3 years old and younger.
The National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) in Nigeria designated the Foundation as one of its anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment sites. As such, free ?rst-line ARV drugs are provided for adults and children. The Foundation has also started a collaboration with the Clinton Foundation on second-line drugs for children. In 2007, more than 2,000 clients were served by the Foundation’s pharmacy for different doses and combinations of ARV’s.
Also in 2007, the Foundation’s laboratory conducted 4,520 HIV-related tests (HIV screening, CD4+, western blot, viral load, drug resistance); 674 serological tests (malaria, S. typhi, hepatitis B and C, tuberculosis); 442 tests for sexually transmitted diseases (chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrhea); and more than 1,680 tests for blood chemistry and hematology (FBS, RBS, cholesterol, urea, SGPT, SGOT, alkaline/ phosphatase, total protein, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, uric acid, creatinine, and full blood count).
Clients are invited to attend the adherence medication sessions where they learn from our clinical staff and their fellow clients about adherence to medication, proper nutrition, safe sex, and dealing with stigma and discrimination. A monitoring of?cer is assigned to call patients to remind them of their next visits and to discuss any issues regarding adherence to medication.
From the time clients like Alex walk into the Foundation’s facilities, they are provided with counseling, medical, laboratory, and pharmaceutical services, many of which are either free or partially subsidized. Our staff takes all the necessary steps to keep client con?dentiality at all times.
