©Info“There is nothing good about the way I used to live,” says Alexander. “I was into drugs and was eventually sent to prison for two years. After leaving prison, I fell back into drugs right away. When I was applying for a job, tuberculosis was detected in my lungs and I was immediately sent to a TB hospital. Tuberculosis incidents in the city were terribly high, two or three corpses were removed every day from the hospital backyard.”
“I was one step away from falling over the edge,” he explains. “Faced with the grim reality of my life, I made a firm decision. I would carry on with my TB treatment. It is hard to get through, but I completed my intensive nine-month treatment and survived. I chose life.”
Alexander, 36, from Karaganda, is now a Kazakh Red Crescent volunteer and member of a peer-to-peer support team for sufferers of the dual epidemic: HIV and tuberculosis (TB). He is also an ex-drug addict and ex-convict. Alexander’s life was turned around through the support he received from the Red Crescent. Now, he is giving something back to the community by supporting other co-infected patients.
After prison
Three years after leaving the prison TB ward and his drug habit behind, Alexander felt compelled to share his experiences with others in the same predicament, as he understands what they are going through and can provide support during their treatment.
“Helping others to live with the same diagnosis of co-infection became my mission in life,” Alexander says. “This programme is about survival. Sometimes we are the only lifeline that people have, particularly if they were just released from prison.”
Working as a Red Crescent volunteer in areas with the highest prevalence of HIV, Alexander reaches out to the most vulnerable. Community volunteers, often ex-TB patients, have been trained to work in these ‘HIV hotspots’ to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of TB and motivate and encourage people to seek and continue the long course of treatment to completion. They provide food for survival and education about the risks of unsafe drug use and sex.
Turning lives around
“I know the drug users and they trust me, so when I approach them with clean needles and advice they listen to me,” Alexander explains. “I motivate them and they respect me because I have had the strength to get over TB and improve the way I live with HIV.
“There was one man suffering from TB/HIV who was completely alone. I brought him food and kept an eye on him, especially to ensure that he took his medicine. Slowly but surely his condition improved. Medicine, food and a bit of personal care can go a long way. The rest depends on individual choice. If someone decides to turn his or her life around, I can offer my shoulder. If the desire is there, then everything is possible.
“On another occasion, I managed to persuade an injecting drug user who didn’t want to go for testing to get tested, and TB was diagnosed. It is really difficult to persuade drug users to take the time to get tested because they are always looking for drugs, so this was a big achievement.”
Alexander knows what he is talking about. His life has been turned around. He has a job, maintains his own health and takes care of the people around him. One day, Alexander has promised himself, his wife and adopted son that he will build a house. His confidence leaves no doubts that he will achieve this. He smiles: “Life can be changed for the better. Now I know that for sure.”
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