“People think … ‘it's impossible for me,’” says longtime HIV physician Jonathan Angel
HIV cases are on the rise, and newcomers are increasingly grappling with the virus and its cultural implicationsStill PositiveEach morning, Ahmed Muslimani wakes up, takes a pill and gets on with their day.
Looking at old photos of themself as a child growing up in Lebanon, Muslimani says they remember always feeling different. “Looking at photos of myself it's clear: That's a gay kid,” Muslimani laughed as they glanced at a photo of themself as a child in Lebanon, where they say they always felt different growing up.
“I went through a phase where I could not have sex without having a panic attack. The only way I could do that was to be really drunk. In those periods, you make choices about using protection or not, and things like HIV transmission occur,” they explained. In Ottawa, after a few years of slow decline, the number of new diagnoses jumped 79 per cent in 2023 with 52, according to data from Ottawa Public Health .
OPH's summer 2024 report also noted a doubling in new HIV diagnoses reported by healthcare providers working in immigrant health in 2023 compared to pre-pandemic. Aliya is a refugee claimant from Uganda, where homosexuality is considered a crime. When her neighbours back home discovered that she was in a relationship with another woman, she says a group of men from the village entered the couple's home and attacked them.“They just entered into our room and … raped me ,” said Aliya. The HIV diagnosis came a few months later.
“People made me feel like I wasn't worthy to be a mother because of what I was, because of what I am,” she said, adding she fears that sharing her diagnosis with her family would only make things worse.“If they find out that … I'm positive and I want to live with my daughter, they will be like, ‘What do you want to do to the child?’” she said.
Her understanding was painted by the experiences of people she'd known in the ‘80s and ‘90s — so when he came out to her as a teenager, the virus was her main concern. Mazerall says he received so many hateful messages after sharing his HIV status on his dating profile that he deleted the apps and his social media altogether.
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