Popular gay rights activist, Bisi Alimi, has taken to his social media page to mark his 18th year of living with HIV.
Reminiscing on how he discovered that he had the virus in a post shared on his Instagram page, Bisi disclosed that he was ashamed of his HIV status for years before he embraced and became vocal about it
According to him, HIV doesn’t kill but the stigma, shame and discrimination meted on people living with HIV is what kills.
The 47-year-old speaker further advised people to get tested and know their HIV status.
He wrote,
“Eighteen years ago, at the National AIDS conference in Abuja and with nudging from friends, I walked into a testing booth for the first time.
I walked out with HIV positive test result. Two years before then, I had just lost my best friend to AIDS, and he was around 26yrs.
I have been living with HIV since I was 29, this year I clocked 47.
Between 2004-2009, I kept quiet about my HIV status cos of shame and stigma.
Then I realised, HIV doesn’t kill, it is stigma, the shame and the discrimination that does.
Here is to 18yrs of positivity and many more years to come.
Please get tested today.”
