HIV advocate Chika Ekezie has recounted how discrimination following his diagnosis cost him his job, strained family relationships and forced him to stop attending church.
Ekezie, who publicly disclosed his HIV status in November 2024, said the stigma he experienced from his workplace, relatives and church members was more difficult to cope with than the virus itself.
The Imo State indigene, in an interview shared by the PUNCH newspaper on its website, said his employers in Lagos asked him to undergo medical tests after he repeatedly fell ill. He said the company paid for the tests, but his employment was terminated hours after he submitted the results.
“I presented the results at about 10am, and by 4pm, they told me that the company was renovating its premises and that I had to leave,” he said.
Ekezie said he left Lagos on a night bus for Abuja, where he currently resides, after his HIV status became known to people around him.
He added that the information spread quickly to his family, leading to further discrimination. According to him, his mother was shunned by members of her church, while his brother also suffered rejection as people reportedly took clothes from his shop.
The advocate said the experience affected his relationship with relatives and church members, forcing him to stop attending church because of the treatment he received.
“The stigma was overwhelming. What I found difficult to deal with was not the virus itself but how people treated me because of it,” he said.
Ekezie disclosed that he had lived with HIV for nine years but spent seven years in denial without taking medication or telling anyone about his status.
He said his decision to speak publicly about his condition came after he was hospitalised and began to fear that he might not have much time left.
He recalled seeing a TikTok video suggesting that HIV could progress to AIDS within five to eight years, which made him decide to share his experience and help others before he died.
“I thought, ‘If I am going to die, let me not die empty. Let me know that I helped a lot of people’,” he said.
However, encouragement from someone who advised him to begin treatment changed his outlook. Ekezie said he started taking medication and subsequently began to appreciate life again.
He said he became undetectable in less than a year after starting treatment, explaining that consistent use of antiretroviral medication had improved his health and given him peace of mind.
Being undetectable means the amount of HIV in a person's blood is so low that standard viral load tests cannot detect it. People who maintain an undetectable viral load through consistent treatment do not sexually transmit the virus.
Ekezie urged people living with HIV not to regard the diagnosis as the end of their ambitions, stressing that effective treatment could enable them to live healthy and fulfilling lives.
He also called for an end to misconceptions that HIV could be transmitted through casual contact, saying discrimination continued to persist even among people who should understand the condition.
“Do not allow HIV to define your life. Take your medication, remain on treatment and allow yourself to live fully,” he advised.
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