César Mufanequiço

Mozambique

There are many taboos in my country and illiteracy is high. If you speak about HIV in Mozambique, they think it is a death sentence. In the rural areas if someone has herpes zoster, they say they were bewitched. We need to educate people. We have community training programmes. We teach people how to identify and treat opportunistic infections and what to do if they see the symptoms in their bodies.

But people ask, “Where did you get this information?” They say, “You can’t tell medical professionals about your symptoms or what kind of medicine you should take.” But we say, “You are helping the doctor because you are the person who has to take the medicines.”