Friday, March 24, Sidaction opened, a fundraising operation to support research, but also associations that do prevention and help people infected with the AIDS virus, in France and in sub-Saharan Africa in particular. Meeting with Bernard, Cameroonian with HIV and on antiretrovirals.
Since the mid-1990s, there have been very effective drugs for living with AIDS, and they have improved over the years. They make it possible to age with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), as evidenced by the career of Bernard Bassama, a Cameroonian living in France.
Bernard Bassama, who is now in his sixties, has been living with HIV for more than 25 years. In 1998, however, the virus threatened to take over. “ For me, who was already seriously ill, I had difficulty breathing, I had already lost more than 20 kilos. I saw my death coming. Anyway, I was already terminally ill with HIV he says.
Then put on antiretroviral treatment, he recovered. But he comes up against the difficulties of access to these drugs in Cameroon. At the turn of the 2000s, none were free. “ Since the drugs were very expensive, I didn’t take them very well and I resisted. My doctor in Cameroon asked me to come to France. I arrived in France in January 2003. We had to change antiretrovirals three times to really find a combination. Since 2008, my virus has been mastered “, he assures.
Facing rejection
In addition to the fight against HIV, it was sometimes necessary to face the rejection : “ My wife at the time left with the children, those are the things that hurt me the most. But above all, I would like to thank my family and my workplace, where I received a lot of support. To fight the taboo, Bernard Bassama talks openly about HIV, raises awareness in Cameroon and France. And he pleads for the latest drugs to be accessible everywhere.
The AIDS pandemic continues to wreak havoc : in 2021, 1.5 million people discovered their HIV status and 650,000 people died from the infection worldwide. A quarter of the 40 million people living with HIV do not have access to antiretroviral treatment.
►Also listen: 40 years after the discovery of the virus, two generations take turns in the fight against AIDS
► Sidaction is an opportunity to talk about HIV, while the covid crisis has taken center stage in recent years. Florence Thune is the director of the Sidaction association, which organizes the event of the same name.
We can see how high the number of infections remains!
Florence Thune, director of the Sidaction association
To make a donation to Sidaction, you can go to the website aidaction.org