Diary: Sierra Leone slum medic

Medical staff at a clinic in the coastal slum of Kroo Bay, in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, are keeping a diary of their working lives for the BBC News website.

Here, Aminatta Sama, a nurse and councillor at the clinic, talks about how she deals with HIV patients and the stigma they face.

Aminatta Sama tells people not to feel ashamed about their HIV status

The first case I did today was positive.

As soon as I saw the result I thought of a strategy to reassure the patient so that she would leave the clinic knowing that having HIV is not a death sentence.

When I told her, I saw a little bit of a change and fear in her face. People think that everything is lost.

But I encouraged her and made her relax.

I feel a little sad when someone is positive, it is not my wish for them, but it is not the end for them.

With treatment they can live long.

We started HIV testing, counselling and treatment programme for pregnant women at the clinic in February.

It is free and we hope to prevent transmission from mother to child.

Everyone knows about Aids and HIV from the radio, but it is not discussed openly and people are afraid to do the test.

A child here would not survive if it was not breastfed Aminatta Sama

We also go to all the community meetings and tell people about HIV.

We tell them that they can come to the clinic, but so far only pregnant women have been tested.

When a pregnant woman comes for the antenatal treatment we try to convince them to be tested. It's voluntary.

If we find out early, we have a better chance of protecting the baby from transmission.

So far we have tested 129 women and found five positive.

When someone is positive I have been trained to counsel them and tell them the news.

Safe secret

I also tell them that being positive does not mean they have been sleeping with all the men, they should not feel ashamed.

People here believe that you only get HIV from sexual intercourse, but I explain that people like us nurses can also get it from the work we do, the deliveries we do.

In pictures: Kroo Bay

When a pregnant woman is positive we start her on ZDV, an anti-retroviral drug, at 28 weeks. After delivery we treat the baby, and continue the mother on ZDV and Septrin, a medicine that helps prevent infections.

We advise mothers to breastfeed for six months, but not longer than that.

A child here would not survive if it was not breastfed.

In this poor community nobody can afford breast milk replacement and the baby would eventually die.

Babies can contract HIV from breastfeeding, but we treat them to try and prevent that.

There is nothing we can do about breastfeeding.

The testing and their status is confidential and the information stays tight with me.

I will advise the other nurses when they come to deliver, but I won't tell anyone in the community.

They come weekly for their treatment, but I am discreet, I keep their secret because I don't know how others will react.

The Kroo Bay clinic staff are keeping a joint diary

Read the previous diary entry

Save the Childrenhas launched an interactive website where Kroo Bay residents answer questions about their lives. Visitors will be able to access 360-degree images of the site, and catch up with the latest news from the slum through regular "webisodes".