The government provides HIV medicines free of charge. Yet in one indigenous territory, cases and deaths are increasing at an alarming rate.
Joti, a young man who lives in Panama's Ngäbe-Buglé territory, was diagnosed with HIV 9 years ago. When he told his family, his mother banned him from the family home out of an unfounded fear that his very presence would put others at risk of infection.
The number of infections continues to rise. In the first 10 months of 2024, there were 258 new HIV and AIDS cases detected in the Ngäbe-Buglé territory, an incidence rate nearly four times higher than the country's urban provinces and Panama City metropolitan area, according to governmentWhat's driving this outbreak among the Ngäbe-Buglé — in a country where HIV medication for prevention and treatment of the virus is offered for free?Experts point to various reasons.
"After I left the home, my mom threw out the chair where I used to sit and burned the plate I used to eat from," says Joti, who is a short and slim 25-year-old, with chiseled cheek bones."I'm no longer welcome there." Joti says that after his family rejected him because he was HIV positive, he stopped taking a daily HIV pill when a town shaman encouraged him to treat the virus with traditional medicinal plants in the form of powders, tinctures and teas. Traditional medicine is a common — and free — treatment option in the Ngäbe-Buglé region, particularly in isolated villages located far from health clinics.
With HIV present in some of the territory's most remote villages, infected residents must travel great distances — sometimes requiring an eight to 12-hour commute on foot, horseback or bus — to reach one of the two antiretroviral clinics in the region.A typical home in the Ngabe Bugie territory, located in a town called Kuerima. According to government figures, nearly two-thirds of residents in the province live in extreme poverty.
Given frequent shortages in the supply of HIV medication at the clinic, Ito to get there as early as possible to improve his chances of securing pills.
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