Bisi Alimi , a Nigerian gay rights activist, public speaker, blog writer and HIV/LGBT advocate who gained international attention when he became the first Nigerian to come out on television has opened up on his battle with Human Immune Virus (HIV).
Th quite outspoken activist revealed how he had been battling with HIV and how his best friend died at 26 from AIDS.
Alimi took to his Instagram page and shared his ‘HIV and Me’ story.
He wrote: “Eighteen years ago, at the National AIDS conference in Abuja and with nudging from friends, I walked into a testing booth for the first time. I walked out with HIV positive test result. Two years before then, I had just lost my best friend to AIDS, and he was around 26yrs.
I have been living with HIV since I was 29, this year I clocked 47. Between 2004-2009, I kept quiet about my HIV status cos of shame and stigma.
Then I realised, HIV doesn’t kill, it is stigma, the shame and the discrimination that does.
Here is to 18yrs of positivity and many more years to come. Please get tested today.”
