Stigma Against Adolescents Living Positively Rife in Milenge
By Linda Mupemo Imagine losing both of your parents at a tender age. Imagine being ill-treated because of a health condition you have no control over. Imagine being born with a deadly pandemic. Imagine living with AIDS. These are some of the heart wrenching situations some adolescents have been subjected to because they contracted HIV from their mothers. As has been our practice, my colleague Milenge District AIDS Coordination Advisor Fanny Gondwe and I organised an essay writing competition for Press and Anti-AIDS clubs members across the district. We give them writing tasks about topical issues that have impact on their lives. The initiative is aimed at improving their writing skills and creating awareness about issues such as Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, child abuse and AIDS. This time around, we asked them to write about how AIDS has affected adolescents in their community. From all the entries we received from various schools, one issue that came out ...