This archive report was first published on 24 October 2019.
October 24, 2019, marked a significant milestone for Moses Nsubuga, a Ugandan musician living with HIV, as he reflected on the stigma he faced after testing positive 25 years ago.
According to Nsubuga, his wife of eight years abandoned him after he tested positive for HIV in 1994, while she tested negative. His family, too, was not supportive, with some members even digging a grave in preparation for his burial.
'The mother of my children left me at the test centre,' Nsubuga recalled in an interview with the Ugandan Monitor.
Four years later, Nsubuga's health began to deteriorate after he failed to adhere to his antiretroviral treatment prescription. He claimed that the medication was too expensive and that he was not used to swallowing drugs every day.
'I was about to die. My relatives gathered at my aunt's home in Entebbe. They had laid me on the mat. They started planning. They wondered if I died, who had Ush1.5 million to take my body to Kitalaganya,' Nsubuga told the World Health Organisation.
Fortunately, a Good Samaritan intervened, offering to drive Nsubuga and his relatives to their home village in Kitalaganya, central Uganda. During the journey, Nsubuga's aunts briefly stopped to purchase materials for his burial, including cement, an iron sheet, and a backcloth.
However, Nsubuga's life was spared when a former parliamentarian intervened, rescuing him and taking him to Kampala for treatment. Since then, Nsubuga has released a song, 'Say No to Resistance,' which urges people living with HIV to stick to their antiretroviral drugs.
