Television presenter and veteran city emcee Edwin Katamba aka MC Kats was the centre of media attention when he broke the news that he was HIV positive. The news came with mixed reactions from the public followed by episodes of both mental and emotional rollercoaster for the emcee.
Kats has undertaken a new endeavor as part of his civic responsibility to advocate, advise and inspire the younger generation about HIV and other related diseases.
He has been narrating his tales and ordeals at various spaces and a few days back, he was among the key speakers at strengthening the TB response through the multi-stakeholders conference at Collin Hotel Mukono where he said he was previously living in denial about the disease. Even when he got Tuberculosis, MC Kats says he still didn’t come to terms that he was suffering from HIV.
“One of the first signs that I had HIV was TB but I first didn’t realize it. I went and bought cough syrup but it didn’t help. I started sweating all the time and then would get on and off fever but the weight loss was what forced me to call my mom who advised me to check up. He was told I was sick but I said no. I’m too cool and good to fall sick. I can’t be sick. I was given TB medication which I was supposed to take for six months. I took it for less than two months,” he said during the conference.
Kats further added that he couldn’t complete the dosage because” the medication increased the sweating but the deal-breaker was that he was smelling medication every time he urinated and sweated.”
Kats however was not aware that he was escalating the situation.
“Immediately I stopped, it took a toll on me because I became worse. The fever put me down and I had to be admitted,” he said.
He then had to restart the whole process again until he completed the dosage.
He advised people who have TB to consistently take their medication and never give up until the dose is done and further emphasized that having HIV is not a death penalty.