Celebrate women in the struggle against HIV/Aids

As we join the rest of the world to celebrate International Women’s Day 2022, I am pleased to celebrate Women in HIV management. There are strong women like my colleague Mutesi Nuruyat, whom I met at Reach Out Mbuya Community Health Initiative (ROM) during my visits for HIV care and treatment. Sharing with Nuruyat about what she has gone through because of her HIV positive status changed my life.

A mother of six in a discordant couple relationship, all her children are HIV negative and she had her sixth Child on the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMCT) programme. It is during her antenatal visits that she found out she was HIV positive. With her husband, children and a few friends’ support, to whom she has disclosed her status, Nuruyat has managed to beat HIV stigma and all associated challenges.

Personally, I have lived with HIV all my life. I got to know about my status when I was six years old. I would get sick all the time, until my grandmother took me to hospital and there I tested HIV positive. Born to a deaf and dump mother, I am the first born but all my siblings are HIV negative, thanks to the PMCT programme. I suffered a lot of stigma before I got support. My uncles always looked at me as a burden to my grandmother and mother and they wanted me to die.

I hated life, but the only hope I got was from my grandmother, who always ensured I was living comfortably. My skin was terrible, a rush was all over me but when I was put on medication which I adhered to well, my viral load was suppressed. I even accepted to go to school. From then, I started activism for children living with HIV to overcome stigma and adhere to drugs. I would share my experience with them, and they would change. Some of them even started calling me ‘mummy’.

I did not want to give birth for fear that I would have a positive child. But when I got pregnant, I became so sick, vomited a lot and for the very first time my viral load went so high. I would throw up the medicine, then take more.  At the hospital, I told the nurse that I am HIV positive but I didn’t want my child to get infected. She was so surprised that for all the time she had treated pregnant women, I was the first to declare my status.

She was so good to me that I gave birth to an HIV negative boy who is two-years-old now.
With such a bad experience, I stand for people, particularly women living with HIV, wherever I go. I always encourage children and young people to remain strong and to the grownups, to always disclose to their partners that it is possible for them to have HIV-free children.

My message to all women is, HIV is not a death sentence. You should never sit down and say ‘I cannot do this because I am HIV positive’. My biggest fear was I would never travel abroad because of HIV, but I have travelled and come back. As long as you take your medication, you are suppressed, you can have anything. You can have any job, you can study. People will always talk about you, whether HIV positive or negative.

Therefore, let all women stand strong to address the gaps in HIV for a diverse, equitable and inclusive world.

#BreakTheBias.                    Vivian Namara Safari,    Teenage and Adolescent Supporter at Reach Out Mbuya Community Health Initiative. [email protected]

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The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day, celebrated on March 8, is “Gender Equality Today For A Sustainable Tomorrow.” Therefore, it is important to reflect on the achievements of women and the challenges we, as a society, face to achieve gender equality.  Gender equality is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) developed by the UN, which the world should intend to achieve by 2030.

This is a chance for grassroots and community-based organisations in Uganda to empower women to become entrepreneurs, teachers, healthcare workers, doctors, activists and leaders in their respective communities.

According to UN Women data, in Uganda, as of February 2021, 34.9 percent of seats in Parliament were held by women. 75 percent of legal frameworks that promote, enforce and monitor gender equality under the SDG indicator, with a focus on violence against women, are in place. Gender equality prevents violence against women and girls.

Societies that value women and men as equal are safer and healthier. It is also essential for economic prosperity and a sustainable future. We appreciate the investments from various international, national, regional and community-based organisations to support the Government of Uganda’s mission to promote gender equality in the country. However, the need of the hour is to understand how we empower grassroots rural women to be active partners in achieving this goal? At Foundation for Community Development and Empowerment (FCDE), we believe that locally led development transforms lives. 

Working hand-in-hand with the community in Kasese and Rukungiri, our team has mentored leaders of 56 local grassroots organisations. 27 percent are women-led and these organisations are actively changing lives through their work, passion and participation. Experience has shown us that to effectively contribute to gender equality we need to focus on capacity building, create spaces and platforms for the women at all levels to engage, participate and access resources to initiate local solutions to community problems Currently, FCDE is in the final stages of developing an initiative, Elevating Women Leaders, which focuses on cultivating leadership skills among the local grassroots women leaders.

Such programs should be promoted and put into practice countrywide and conversations should be localised to create a sense of ownership to bring this discussion to reality. As we commemorate the International Women’s Day, women and girls hold the key to attaining gender equality in society. So let’s take a vow to champion and elevate local women leaders through capacity building, to change the world for the better.
Sylvia Kabugho,  [email protected]