In an article published in The Citizen, Célia LEBUR a writer for AFP gave an example of how an HIV positive lady was nearly scammed out of money by someone who claimed to have a cure for the infection. She also drew attention to some of the bold unverified claims that some people including pastors and some unorthodox medical practitioners make to have found a cure for the still incurable disease infection.
The journalist also quoted an official of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) who said that cases are known about HIV infected people who believe these claims and see their infections return because they had stopped treatment.
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Blessing wanted to believe the advert on Facebook that promised “a cure for AIDS”.
“He talked only about money, so I gave up,” said Blessing, whose name has been changed at her request. “But I was ready to try.”
“There are so many people giving positive testimonies about the drug,” she told AFP in a soft voice.
Since then, with the distribution in Nigeria of free anti-retroviral treatments that repress the virus — but do not eliminate it — Blessing has been able to finish her studies in sociology in Abuja.
She said she now feels more comfortable with her HIV-positive status, but while she has a few business projects, the hardest thing has been finding a boyfriend.
“I was desperate. Any relationship I wanted to be it was difficult. I know I have to live with the virus,” she said.
– Power of prayer –
Despair and stigma for people living with HIV make them easy targets for a range of supposed miracle workers, including internet scams, in deeply religious Nigeria. Not a month goes by without a Christian pastor announcing that a follower has been “saved”.
In Lagos, the commercial capital of more than 20 million people, vast and imposing evangelical churches have become a magnet for the sick from across Africa.
Among the most well-known faith healers is TB Joshua, who runs the Synagogue Church of All Nations, and whose popularity has earned him a multimillion-dollar fortune. He prides himself on his claims of having cured people of AIDS and even in bringing the dead back to life. His website is full of testimonies about his apparent powers of prophecy.
One of his TB Joshua Ministries page on Facebook is titled: “AIDS kicked out with prayer.”
“Mr Ubon Augustine is a living testimony that no disease can escape the healing power of Jesus Christ,” it reads. “He was healed of HIV/Aids through a prayer… Thank You, Jesus!”
– No scientific proof –
Others also claim to have found the scientific cure for HIV, publishing research in obscure journals.
One such assertion, from a professor at an agricultural university in the southeastern state of Abia, garnered significant coverage in the Nigerian news media earlier this year. Maduike Ezeibe claimed that after 25 years of research, he had successfully tested a drug he had developed on patients.
“Nigeria is thus (the) the first country to get 10 people (to) recover from HIV/AIDS,” he was quoted as saying by Nigeria’s Guardian newspaper in March.
Nigeria’s health agencies condemn such claims on the grounds of the “absence of sound scientific evidence” as well as the dramatic effects on patients if they stop taking conventional treatment.
HIV levels can fall to below detectable levels with the help of a daily pill but rebound when the treatment is stopped. The viruses swiftly reproduce to attack immune cells, exposing the body to opportunistic disease and worsening the risk of infecting others.
“If someone thinks he is cured of the virus when on the contrary he still has the virus, the risk of transmission will be higher,” said Daniel Ndukwe of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA).
“We have had people claim they were cured of HIV by miracle healing, and we have also heard of those who later had a deterioration of their health afterwards,” he said.
No formal study has been undertaken in Nigeria to explore the phenomenon but there is no doubt that many have seen a market for apparent miracle cures.
– Lucrative business –
According to UNAIDS, the prevalence of HIV among adults in Nigeria was 2.9 percent in 2016, which is relatively low compared to countries such as South Africa (18.9 percent). But the actual number of people living with the condition — 3.2 million — is among the highest in the continent.
Emmanuel Ugochukwu Michael, the founder of a match-making agency for people with HIV, says he is regularly approached by people asking for his 7,000-name database.
“I receive a lot of calls from traditional doctors and mainly from pastors,” he said.
“They invite me to a dinner and promise to pay me money if I provide them phone numbers of my clients,” he added.
“It’s a lot of temptation. It gives me a lot of sleepless nights, I can tell you.
“There’s huge money to be made and everybody wants to take advantage of it.”
A version of this report appeared on The Citizen website.
too bad a lot of people are scammed. I guess when one is desperate for a solution they become vulnerable. But a lot of people don’t seem to understand the HIV is far from the worse sickness ever and people infected with the virus can live a normal life. Really happy with this piece of journalistic work maybe someone somewhere might learn something from it.