AFRO-NETS> RFI: Online counselling for HIV/AIDS

["Dr. Susan Kugel" <susankugel@web.de>]

RFI: Online counselling for HIV/AIDS
------------------------------------

Dear friends,

What is your opinion about online counselling of HIV infected people, 
relatives and counsellors?

I used to work as a doctor in Zimbabwe for several years and came 
across a lot of problems concerning counselling people likely to be 
infected with HIV. Although Zimbabwe is a country with plenty of or-
ganisations trying to support and organize different activities, re-
ality was not very encouraging. Unfortunately there was no time for 
doctors to talk to patients and counsel them. Nurses refused to coun-
sel even when they were trained. They were short staffed but they also 
didn't want. A lot of them feared to be infected themselves and said 
they saw no need because they didn't have anything to offer anyway. 

In the area I worked everybody knew each other and AIDS patients were 
often still isolated and mistreated. In Harare I saw a man who tried 
to burn himself because his family isolated him. He was not even al-
lowed to give a present to his children. Isolation from friends, 
work, family members, prejudice and being treated in a different way 
than before, are some fears HIV infected people will face and issues 
they have to deal with. Not everybody who is HIV positive and perhaps 
still healthy wants other people to know. He might need time for him-
self collecting information, planning his future and continue with 
his life as usual but in a responsible way. 

One possibility for support and help could be a platform in the 
internet. There are already plenty of possibilities of getting infor-
mation via the internet about treatment, policies, ways of preventive 
activities, publications. What I didn't find is a forum where people 
can ask doctors and counsellors individually and anonymous online and 
offline. Where they are able to contact other infected people to sup-
port each other also anonymous. I know there are newsgroups and chats 
of infected people in Europe, America and Australia but what about 
developing countries? Does something similar exist in some regions? 
What about counselling of counsellors and people working or living 
with AIDS patients, supplying them with the latest information and 
giving them the possibility to forward questions they can't answer. 

I know, just a limited group of people has access to this media, but 
this group will constantly grow and most of these people are the edu-
cated and professionals e.g. teachers, nurses, doctors, government 
workers or people in business. They might have even more problems to 
accept personal counselling. Of course, we should fight against 
prejudices and encourage specially intellectuals to admit their in-
fection, but not everybody is as strong as that. There should be a 
wide range of offers for people to choose the best for their situa-
tion.

Does online counselling exist? Is it helpful? Would people use this 
possibility?

Currently I am working for GTZ in the area of health informatics and 
would like to know your opinion and experience concerning this topic.

Please contact me via e-mail: <susankugel@web.de>

With best regards, 

Dr Susan Kugel
mailto:susankugel@web.de


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