We are as special as you are

"I had no one I felt I could trust to talk to. I told myself that this happened because of my decision. So I didn't really contact anyone, I just kept my thoughts to myself."

- Jessica Novia

A few months after he got his diagnosis, he chanced upon an advertisement for a campaign called Paint The Town Red. It was a final-year project by a group of university students who wanted to spread awareness about HIV.

"Though I had yet to fully process my condition, I felt this pull to reach out and share my story," he says.

Sharing his story with the students lifted a weight off his chest. It was the first time he had told anyone other than his doctor that he had HIV.

He found it cathartic. After that, he looked online and asked around the AfA network for closed-door sharing sessions for PLHIV. There, he started sharing his story with more people.

Thanks to antiretroviral medication, Mr Tan has been able to live a more or less normal life for the past nine years. He takes a pill called Triumeq, which used to cost him around $600 a month. Thanks to subsidies, it now costs him $200 a month. His viral load is so low a standard lab test cannot detect it.

"Whenever it is time for my daily medication, I open my pill case, take a second to look at it, and remind myself that I am taking charge and care of my own health. It's a daily affirmation that I've followed since day one, and it has helped me tremendously."

While medication kept the virus in check, he still struggled initially with how to break the news to those closest to him.

It took him a year to tell his close friends, and another year before he told his family.

He braced himself for a negative reaction when telling a school friend, but was taken aback when she reacted with a mix of surprise and concern about his well-being.