In the 20 years since he was diagnosed, much has changed. When ART was first introduced around the world, patients used to take a combination of many drugs, but the treatment is now available in fixed-dose combinations that allow people to take just one or two pills.
Though ART does not cure HIV and AIDS – there is no cure – it helps patients' immune systems and reduces mortality and morbidity. The disease is also no longer a death sentence, despite its seriousness.
Mwatamawenyu tested HIV-positive in 2003 after going to donate blood at a health facility near his house in Matika village, just outside Mutare in eastern Zimbabwe. I was shocked. I did not believe it.
AIDS-related deaths peaked in Zimbabwe in the 1990s and new HIV infections were high in the early 2000s when Mwatamawenyu was diagnosed. But the figures have declined over the years because of interventions like ART, and awareness campaigns on prevention.
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