Overcoming HIV/AIDS with the community, a fight for life
By Chrystel Trazié-Menan MAN, Côte d’Ivoire, 25 July 2007 – Bernadette Gouéhi, 30 year old, is a volunteer in charge of community mobilisation to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS. She attends the weekly meetings for the public awareness agents of the NGO Development Initiative-Africa (IDE-Africa) Sitting on a bench among her colleagues, with her 8-month old daughter on her lap, she listens attentively to the instructions being given by their coordinator, Clementine, a 40-year old woman with contagious dynamism. “During the group discussion sessions or private visits, we sensitise young girls and women - whether pregnant or not - on HIV/AIDS. We explain to them the need to have the HIV test before and during pregnancy in order to prevent the risk of transmission of the virus to the baby”, explains Bernadette as she tell about their community sensitisation activities in the field. She accomplishes her mission with bravery and great motivation. Bernadette is in complete support of this programme and knows what she is talking about. She is HIV-positive. Bernadette recalls: “I tested HIV-positive when the public awareness agent of IDE-Africa suggested me to take the test in line with their PMTCT programme. After this painful experience, I decided to also become a public awareness volunteer for the organisation. My health status permitting, I go round sensitising the women in the village”. The majority of women who deal with community mobilisation at IDE-Africa are HIV-positive. This is also the case of Clementine who, despite her status declared 6 years ago, is still active in public awareness activities under the PMTCT programme. It is with the financial, material and technical support of UNICEF that IDE-Africa carries out its activities in the area of community mobilisation and offers care and support to HIV/AIDS orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in the 18 Montagnes Region. When the conflict lays the bed of the disease … This region in the West of Côte d’Ivoire, where the city of Man is situated, has been seriously affected by four years of conflict experienced by the country. It was the venue of frequent atrocities, sexual abuse and violence against mainly women and children.“The conflict has aggravated the health situation of the region. Man has virtually no structures for medical care and support for the PMTCT programme and those infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. This makes it difficult to have access to quality primary health care”, declares Mr. Albert Seu, director of IDE-Africa before adding, “There are frequent shortages in the supply of antiretrovirals (ARVs) and testing kits in the regional health districts”. Choosing between eating and seeking treatment … Bernadette left school very early for lack of resources. Her level of education and precarious health status are major obstacles preventing from engaging in any income-generating activity.Like many uneducated women in rural regions, she depends on the income of her husband and, consequently, on decisions taken by the latter. “I depend financially on my husband who is a farmer. With what he earns, it is very difficult to feed the family every day, and even more difficult to pay for my medication”, Bernadette explains. The inadequate income of these rural populations makes it difficult to provide care and support to people living with HIV in these regions. Although the price is affordable for the national average, amount of 1,000 CFA spent month to purchase ARVs sometimes represents, for these villagers, more than half of the monthly family budget. There is hope In Côte d’Ivoire the HIV/AIDS prevalence is at an alarming rate of 4.7, which is the highest of the West and Sub-Saharan Africa. UNICEF will, as from 2008, provide support in ARVs to the tune of US$ 5,000,000, thanks to the UNITAID project (tax on air tickets). The drugs will be made directly available to the health districts, in order to facilitate the access for patients living in these regions, announces UNICEF’s Dr Jean Konan during a sensitisation session at IDE- Afrique.This represents a ray of hope for Bernadette and her colleagues. Welcoming the news with shouts of joy, Bernadette says with a broad smile, “this, for me, is another reason to pursue the fight; we will end HIV/AIDS in the 18 Montagnes Region”.
|
