A shared concern

It’s something very much in the open and the mere mention of its name brings out clear instructions and flow charts of Dos and Don’ts. Everyone knows it is a dreaded thing to be associated with, for the simple reason that it kills.

And yet, here we are at the same cross roads of ‘new HIV cases recorded,’ 34 in fact, and that, just in a six months frame. Needless to say, the news has shocked all the ears that heard it.

The news is no doubt concerning, but should you take a look at how it is being received, there are finer elements that warrant equal concerns such as how people look at the whole picture.

For one, mostly and generally people easily relate the cases as results of sexual acts that failed to follow the required health precautions.

After numerous sensitization drives, regular messages sent out through different mediums on a sufficiently paced time and speed, it is of higher concern that the public reception to the preventive measures has still not expanded from the threshold of the affairs of flesh.

For instance, it is been equally published, broadcast and televised that unsterilized use of sharp medical objects (specifically blood transfusion, and generally in different scenarios such as a barber’s blade or drug users sharing a syringe etc.). The core message being that there are other ways through which people can place themselves at risk of contracting the HIV virus.

Positive developments are also part of such news after its public knowledge, as it makes one and all reflect on the stakes of being ignorant or the perks of keeping informed and cautious.

For one, in the country, stories of people being discriminated ostracized in deeply disturbing mannerisms are not heard of (at least not in terms of prominently being carried from every ear to ear). 

And for this reason perhaps, the essentially compassionate atmosphere may have encouraged a few to even come out on national TV ‘for the benefit of the rest.’

So while, cases may keep adding to the numbers, it is important that the drive to educate and prevent the spread of the virus also picks up pace and keeps reinventing to serve effectively in human interests.

At the same time it is favorably in prevalence, there is always a degree of compassion and sympathy for those who find themselves diagnosed with the deadly virus.

And for those who see the cases with an outward or hinted irk and damnation, they should be enlightened more on the subject, as it concerns a small population of a tiny nation and everyone interlinked can play a part as compassionate individuals and concerned citizens.

Published as Business Bhutan Editorial on July 19, 2014