Celebrate Father’s Day with an HIV Test

“My key message for men during this Father’s Day is that if you love your spouse and children, you should know and disclose your HIV status,” says Mtsetfwa Mfanuzile, 42, a TB Champion at the Bhalekani Clinic in Eswatini, a small nation situated between South Africa and Mozambique.  

“My key message for men during this Father’s Day is that if you love your spouse and children, you should know and disclose your HIV status.” Mtsetfwa Mfanuzile

Mtsetfwa knows from experience just how important it is to know your HIV status and stay on treatment if you test positive. In fact, he considers himself lucky to be alive after being diagnosed with both TB and HIV, conditions that eventually made him so ill he was forced to leave his job.  

 In 2010, Mtsetfwa’s wife had tested positive to HIV during her antenatal care visit. “It was not easy to accept it.” Mtsetfwa admits. Then, in 2014, he discovered that he, too, is living with HIV when he went for a medical examination for his public driving license. He enrolled in antiretroviral treatment (ART), and did not think much more of it. But the next year, Mtsetfwa’s brother passed, and the grief and stress took a great toll on his health. 

 “I lost weight and appetite, and my condition deteriorated quickly,” he says. 

 At the health center, Mtsetfwa was diagnosed with advanced TB, a common coinfection with HIV for those who have not suppressed their viral load. This was the second time that Mtsetfwa was diagnosed with TB, and he says this helped him to know how to take the TB medication.  

 “I was encouraged by the fact that I pulled through the first time I took the TB medication,” Mtsetfwa says. He adhered to the TB treatment and fully recovered. 

 Now, Mtsetfwa and his wife are both healthy, raising a happy family together. They are a reference point for the community on health issues. They disclosed their HIV status to their three children and were delighted to discover that none of these children are living with HIV.  

 Mtsetfwa volunteers as a TB champion, and lives as an encouragement to other men. He believes that knowing one’s HIV status is a true act of love a man can give to his family. He says that men should stop being secretive about their health because that behavior does not help them or their families.  

 Hlobisile Mdluli, the sister-in-charge at Bhalekani Clinic says the health center is impressed to have men of Mtsetfwa’s caliber who are proud fathers and are open about their HIV status. She says that the facility commits to providing high-quality care for men coming for health services, and people like Mtsetfwa will always be available to talk to men and provide the information they need to improve their health. 

 “Taking everyone in the family for an HIV test would be the greatest gift from the father to his family during this year’s Father’s Day,” says Vusi Dlamini, technical advisor for the ASPIRE project. He encourages men to also take pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) as one of the interventions aimed at curbing the spread of HIV.  

“Be there for the family as men this time and show them love as we need you men in our lives.” Sister Mdluli

 Sister Mdluli says that in addition to testing for HIV, men use Father’s Day to commit to standing up against gender-based violence, which would show love, care, and support to their families. 

 “Be there for the family as men this time and show them love as we need you men in our lives,” Mdluli says.