No motion has she now, no force

It's ironic that, just after I write about how antiretroviral therapy (ART) has extended life, we get news that one of the 'old timers' has passed away. Even though she went public about her infection (or actually was 'outed') many years ago, I still don't feel comfortable to give her name, but some may know who I am referring to when I call her 'N" from South Sulawesi.

I'm not sure exactly when she was diagnosed, although it was certainly in the 90's, because she attended the first national meeting of people living with HIV, in Bali in 1998. She was one of three women 'caught' in a raid and forcibly tested - in the name of 'unlinked anonymous' surveillance.

When she was married, her photo was displayed in a local tabloid, under the headline "AIDS Bride". This caused her to become well-known, and as a result the couple were seven times forcibly evicted from their rented lodgings. In the end, a doctor with a heart allowed her to stay in his house, but then he was transferred, and once again, she was on the move.

As the veteran AIDS journalist, Syaiful Harahap, put it at the time, "this demonstrates the harm that results from efforts to track down HIV-positive people. ... The government tries to find the positive people, but when it does, it doesn't care about the effects..."

Among other petty inconveniences she experienced was one caused by the fact that she had a contraceptive implant. This had passed its expiry date (I think it was a three-year one), so she wanted to have it removed. But no one was willing remove it. She was shuffled from clinic to clinic, from doctor to doctor, but all found some excuse to avoid helping her once they knew she was HIV-positive. I'm not sure that it hasn't gone with her to her grave.

N served for a period as the Indonesian representative on the Asia-Pacific Network of HIV-positive people, APN+, although sadly her poor English capability limited her effectiveness in that position. It's a pity that lack of English so often effectively excludes otherwise well-qualified candidates for regional and global representation.

I hadn't met N for some years. Towards the end, she was living somewhat off the beaten track, and she probably got somewhat forgotten. It's very sad to hear of her passing.

Babé