So the president took a public HIV test, this was a good PR exercise and so far it worked as everyone even the critics applauded him. This support comes in the backdrop of his predecessor refusing flat to take any HIV test let alone in public. In my opinion the president should not have taken the HIV test in public or announce his results. If he were HIV positive I don’t think he would make the public announcement because of stigma. For him to announce the results won’t help anyone, but what he should have done is to encourage every one to test and keep his or her status secret.
Now that he tested negative wil that not encourage recklessness amongst the rigid traditionalists who don’t believe in this condom thing. We all know he had sex with an HIV infected woman and came out unscathed. This in a twisted way might lead to unintended consequences. Take someone in a rural village in Matatiele or Makhado who does not subscribe to condom use. What the result of the president is saying to him is that, it does not matter whether you sleep with someone infected with HIV you are not going to get it. You might as well go on and sleep around without a condom after that.
What message did he pass to the layman in the street, who regards him as a hero? Was it a good thing that the president took pupblic test and made results public.
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