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'Just another woman with AIDS'

    BAGHDAD

    "My name is Um Ahmed and I live in the Iraqi capital Baghdad in the suburb of Bataween. My husband is a haemophiliac and I caught HIV/AIDS from him after he caught it through a blood transfusion.

    Despite this situation, I love him so much. We didn't know that he was sick and as any man and wife would, we had sexual relations without protection and today I'm just another woman in this discriminatory country carrying the HIV virus.

    The first time that I told someone here that I was a carrier [HIV-positive], the person never spoke to me again and told all of my friends that I was sick and most of them will not see me anymore because they are afraid that they will get the virus too.

    To be frank, until that time I did not know how the disease was transmitted, due to the poor information in Iraq.

    Thank God we were sent to the AIDS Research Centre (ARC) here in Baghdad. The staff have helped us for many years with medicine and psychological help. But there are some drugs they don't have in stock and I don't know what to do to get them since we are a very poor family and my husband's health has worsened and he cannot work anymore.

    We don't have children, but we adopted one a few years ago and he discovered that we were carriers of the virus and left us, telling his father that we were contaminated and that he didn't want to be sick as well, despite us explaining everything.

    Life in Iraq is very difficult in many ways, especially because discrimination is so widespread.

    My husband and I are just a couple in the country waiting for acknowledgement from the government of this disease and searching for good people who can look at us without bias."

    Background

    The ARC offers specialist treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS in Iraq but says it is now facing a chronic shortage of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs - which help prolong the life of HIV-positive people.

    A total of 448 HIV/AIDS cases have been detected since 1987, when the centre opened.

    Iraq has 72 people living with HIV/AIDS under treatment at the centre, according to officials.

    All patients receive information, psychological support and medical help - when the drugs are available - during weekly meetings at the ARC.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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