Iltqajna ma’ Christian Vincent Jung. Daniż ta’ 32 sena li ilu jbati mill-virus tal-HIV għal dan l-aħħar ħames snin. Ma’ ONE News irrakonta kif sar jaf li għandu l-virus minn test ta’ rutina li għamel fid-Danimarka. F’24 siegħa minn meta sar jaf b’dan, kien diġa beda’ bit-trattament biex illum minkejja l-kundizzjoni, jgħix ħajja normali.
Christian huwa wkoll il-fundatur u l-President tal-għaqda Checkpoint Malta, li qed taħdem biex tqajjem kuxjenza f’Malta dwar il-bżonn li wieħed jiċċekja ruħu regolarment u li tispiċċa l-istigma relatata mas-servizzi ta’ saħħa sesswali.
Christian qalilna “To make it more of a common and normalized thing to get tested regularly instead of it being stigmitised with a bit of shame”.
Dan kollu jrid jiġi msostni b’iktar edukazzjoni dwar il-kundizzjoni tal-HIV u mard ieħor trasmess sesswalment.
Hu tenna li “To get the conversation about HIV going in the country so that the stigma will hopefully be less and so people are less afraid of what this actually is”.
Christian spjega li l-għaqda li qed imexxi qed tikkopera mal-MGRM u l-Allied Rainbow Communities iktar nies jittestjaw ruħhom u jirċievu t-trattament għal kundizzjoni tagħhom.
Christian sostna li “The focus will be to reach the 1990 aims of the UN AIDS – which means that 90% of the people living with HIV will go get tested, 90% of the people getting tested will get treatment and 90% will be what is called undetectable”.
L-attivist qed jaħdem biex tiġi ssimplifikata l-mediċina li tingħata lill-pazjenti tal-HIV, hekk kif anke b’mediċina waħda biss jonqsu l-effetti tal-kundizzjoni li jtellfu mill-ħajja ta’ kuljum.
Christian temm jgħid li “I for instance take 1 pill a day – a single pill and has no side effects and works very well for me. In Malta unfortunately there is not officially this option so we are working towards reducing the up to seven pills a day that some patients have to take that have unfortunately a lot of side effects which obviously have a big impact on their life quality”.
Christian qal li iltaqa’ diġà mal-Ministru għas-Saħħa Chris Fearne biex jiġu esplorati modi kif prattiċi li bħalissa jsiru f’GU clinics fid-Danimarka u l-Olanda jistgħu jiġu ntrodotti fil-GU clinic fl-Isptar Mater Dei.
Dan biex jitwassal il-messaġġ li billi wieħed ikun marid bl-HIV, xorta jista’ jkompli jgħix ħajtu b’mod normali.
