Campus HIV and AIDS Support Unit Hosts Flame of Hope

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Flame of Hope, an event to celebrate lives lost to HIV and AIDS, was hosted by UKZN’s Campus HIV and AIDS Support Unit at the Howard College campus.

The HIV and AIDS Programme Director, Ms Nomonde Magantolo, said the event was held to ‘reflect on our past and prepare for our future.’

Magantolo said she was concerned that while HIV and AIDS was preventable, we still get new infections every day. She advised students to reflect – ‘look at yourselves and ask yourself – how are you going to protect yourself from HIV?’

She said UKZN campus clinics are equipped to assist students whether they are HIV negative or positive – the aim was to help students ‘graduate healthy and alive.’ ‘HIV is no longer a death sentence – you can get treatment,’ she said.

Magantolo reminded students to know the status of their partners, to talk openly about HIV and to stay negative or to get treatment if they are positive.

Guest speaker and advocate for TB and HIV vaccine research, Mr Siya Nzimande, reflected on the history of HIV and highlighted those we have lost to HIV, including Nkosi Johnson and Gugu Dlamini, who was stoned to death in 1998 after she revealed her HIV positive status.

Nzimande berated decisions taken by government in the past, saying: ‘How many people died while we were busy eating African potatoes?’

He said the best way to fight HIV is prevention and behavioural change. ‘The choice is yours,’ said Nzimande.

PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) Ambassador and Peer Educator, Mr Kwanele Ngcobo, explained the benefits of PrEP, an anti-HIV medicine that keeps HIV negative people from getting HIV and emphasised consistency in taking the tablets daily. Ngcobo said that while PrEP is safe, ‘using condoms is still the best way to prevent HIV’.

The SRC’s Ms Thandeka Mkhwane stressed the importance of awareness and denounced discrimination based on HIV status. She implored students to ‘hate the disease, not the diseased.’

Entertainment was provided by Thokozani Kojane, Minenhle Mthiyane and the Red light group.

Words: Raylene Captain-Hasthibeer 

Photograph: Albert Hirasen