Winnie Mbabazi’s Story
“In just a few hours, everything I believed about my life collapsed.”
Balancing Marriage, University, and Pregnancy
In 2017, Winnie Mbabazi was a second-year university student enrolled in an evening program. she was also newly married, expecting her first child. It was a time filled with excitement, responsibility, and uncertainty but a wrong HIV positive diagnosis was not anywhere among her worries..
Like many first-time mothers, Winnie had not yet officially started antenatal care. She knew she was pregnant, but she did not fully understand what early antenatal visits involved or when they should begin.
By her third month, however, her body began sending worrying signals.
“I felt restless and unusually weak,” Winnie recalls. “I knew something wasn’t right.”
After confiding in a close friend, she was advised to seek medical attention, specifically to have a scan done to confirm the wellbeing of her pregnancy.
“I wasn’t going to the hospital to confirm the pregnancy,” she explains. “I already knew I was pregnant. I just wanted to know whether my baby was okay.”
From Lecture Hall to Hospital
That evening, Winnie attended her university lecture, which ended at around 7:00 p.m. Before going home, she boarded a boda-boda and headed straight to a well-known hospital in Kololo, Kampala, an institution widely regarded for specialist care and experienced gynecologists.
At reception, she explained that she was pregnant for the first time, feeling unwell, and hoping to have a scan done. She was then directed to the doctor’s office, where she described her symptoms in more detail.
The doctor asked how far along the pregnancy was. She estimated three months. He also asked whether she was taking any medication. When she answered no, he noted that antenatal medication should already have been started.
Along with the scan, a blood test was recommended to screen for several conditions, including HIV. ideally one would be worried about the possible positive HIV results but Winne was confident, there was nothing to worry about- but the monster of wrong HIV-positive diagnosis was waiting without her knowledge
A Scan That Brought Relief
The scan was conducted first, even when the blood sample was taken earlier. The medical professional explained what was appearing on the screen. For the first time, Mbabazi saw her unborn child forming. She was reassured that the pregnancy was stable.
“I was relieved,” she says. “I could see my baby. I was told everything looked fine.”
The scan report was printed and she was asked to return to the doctor with it.
Waiting, Then Fear
Her blood sample was taken at around 8:00 p.m. As the minutes stretched into hours, unease began to set in. By 11:00 p.m., the results had still not been released.
Winnie noticed tension among the medical staff. Although no explanation was offered, the atmosphere felt heavy.
Growing increasingly restless, she asked why the blood results were taking so long.
Moments later, she was called back into the doctor’s room.
“I asked whether something was wrong with my blood, like what killed my sibling ,” she says. she was told it was not cancer, but that her blood “was not clean.”
The Questioning That Changed Everything
Inside the room, the doctor’s tone had shifted. A series of pointed questions followed.
Because Winnie had lost a sibling to leukemia the year before, her thoughts immediately went to blood cancer. She asked whether there was something wrong with her blood, something like what killed her sibling .
The doctor dismissed cancer as a possibility. Instead, he told her that her blood “was not clean.”
The conversation then turned to HIV.
She was asked whether she had tested before marriage. She confirmed that both she and her husband had tested negative. When asked when they last tested together, she replied that it had been four months earlier.
She was then asked whether she trusted her husband. She said yes.
The doctor disagreed.
According to him, the person she trusted had infected her with HIV.
The diagnosis given to her was HIV positive..
“I Rejected It Completely”. “I told the doctor clearly that I did not have HIV,” Winnie says. “I was confident about my status.”
She was informed that positive HIV results are usually reviewed and tested several times before confirmation. She asked whether the same level of review had been done in her case. The doctor affirmed that it had.
Despite this, she refused to accept the result and requested that it not be written on her medical form.“I felt it would bring bad luck,” she explains. “I knew I was not sick.”
Interpreting her response as denial, the doctor began counseling her to accept the diagnosis. She was given the contact of an HIV counselor and directed to an organization where antiretroviral medication—for both her and her unborn child could be obtained.
Winnie stood her ground. She insisted on seeking a second medical opinion before any diagnosis was documented.
Although the doctor agreed, he urged her to keep the counselor’s contact number “just in case.”Sent Home in Shock
Concerned about her emotional state, the medical team worried that the distress might endanger her or the pregnancy. A boda-boda was arranged to take her home.
During the ride, Winnie shared what had happened and asked the rider whether false HIV-positive results ever occur.
“They do,” he told her. He also advised her to repeat the test at another hospital.
Despite that reassurance, the emotional impact had already taken holdA Night of Trauma and Silence
That night, Winnie did not sleep. She chose not to tell her husband what had happened.
As the hours passed, certainty gave way to doubt. Trust eroded. Fear took over.I started imagining my death,” she says. “I even imagined being buried near my sibling who had died the year before.” It was the most traumatic night of her life
The Search for the Truth
At dawn, as soon as her husband left for work, Winnie went to another health facility Hospital for retesting. She did not disclose the previous night’s events.
The result came back negative.
Still uneasy, she sought a third opinion at Lifeline Hospital in Ntinda. Once again, the test result was negative.
With the third test, her confidence slowly returned.
She went to church later that day and eventually returned home. Although the fear lingered, she could not bring herself to eat and survived on water aloneThe Apology Call
That evening, a call came from an unregistered number.
The caller identified himself as Dr. Simon, head of the laboratory at the first hospital.
An apology was offered.
It was explained that when he arrived for his shift and reviewed her case, the stored blood sample had been retested several times. All the repeat tests had returned negative results. A laboratory error had occurred.
“I was bitter,” Winnie says. “But he kept apologizing.”
What Medical Evidence Confirms
According to the World Health Organization, HIV diagnosis must follow strict testing algorithms, especially during pregnancy. Although rare, false-positive HIV results can occur, particularly due to laboratory errors, clerical mistakes, or testing during pregnancy when certain antibodies may interfere with screening tests.
Studies indicate that even a few hours of believing a false diagnosis can cause severe psychological distress, anxiety, and trauma—especially for expectant mothers.
What Stayed With Her
When Winnie finally told her husband what had happened, his reaction surprised her. He requested that they test again together.
Trust had been shaken, even though the results were negative.
No formal complaint was filed. No written record of the false result existed.
But the lesson remained.
“HIV is real,” Winnie says.
“But a wrong diagnosis can almost kill you.”
“Always confirm your status from more than one professional source.”
“And people living with HIV already carry enough pain, they deserve accuracy, care, and dignity.:
