Women living with HIV/AIDS spearheading its fight in Pader district
She tested positive in 2006 but continues to live strong, happy and above all, healthy. 32-year-old Faith Aciro (not real name) is a wife and mother of three. She resides in Lagai village, in the northern Uganda district of Pader.
Despite her HIV status, Aciro lives a normal happy life. She attributes this to adherence to medication. “I enrolled for medication as soon as I tested positive. I take my ARVs religiously. I also eat a balanced diet and try my best to live happy,” she explains.
Aciro says she contracted the virus from her husband and lived for three years without knowing her status. She was prompted to test when she became sickly. “On testing positive, I felt disappointed, depressed and ashamed. I hated myself, became a loner and wished for death,” she reveals.
However, Aciro accepted her situation and soon started her journey back to normalcy. This was after she enrolled for counselling at Pader Heath Centre III. She progressively regained her strength and was inspired to give other people living with HIV/AIDS the same services and a chance to live happy and healthy again.
Ambassador of hope
“I was as good as dead but, my counsellors breathed life in me. Then I thought of the many people living the same ‘dead’ life and I got the urge to do something. This is when I decided to provide free counselling services to them so that they recover and have hope of a long healthy life like me,” Aciro reveals.
She volunteered to provide counselling services at the Health Centre and she still does. She also makes home visits to HIV patients, reminding them of how long and healthy they can live if they adhere to treatment. “I also remind them to feed on a balanced diet and to be happy about life, not depressed,” she states.
Aciro is just one of the 180 women living with HIV/AIDS in twelve Village Health Teams (VHTs) preaching life and hope to other HIV patients. The teams have reached over 4,629 people with their gospel in four sub counties of Pader including: Pajule, Lapul, Latanya and Pader Town Council.
“I am happy to say that people who receive our counselling services take our advice and majority of them look as good and healthy as we are. The feeling of changing someone’s life, through giving them hope is priceless. It inspires us to reach more people with psychosocial support,” says 32-year-old Gladys Ageno (not real name), a member of Kicabar VHT.
LWF’s Naomi Acara explains that through the Improving access and uptake of Sexual reproductive health services project, LWF facilitated staff from the Office of the District Health Officer to train VHTs in HIV and AIDS sensitizations and psychosocial support. VHTs are now facilitated by LWF with funds from Church of Sweden to provide basic health services at community level including; information sharing on family planning, sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS, pregnancy, food and nutrition among others. “All these efforts are aimed at achieving the 3rd Sustainable Development Goal of good health and wellbeing for all by 2030.” Added Acara.
Sensitization through arts
Through music, dance and drama, VHTs also sensitize communities twice a week on how one can get infected with HIVAIDS, its prevention and how to live a healthy life with the disease.
“We attract crowds through catchy drama, songs and dances with HIV themes. When people converge, we tell them to test for HIV. If found negative, we advise them to abstain, be faithful to their partners or even use condoms (ABC),” says 69-year-old Margaret Akello (not her real name) a member of Latwopeing VHT. “We advise those who test positive to start on medication as soon as possible.”
After the shows, Akello says that they escort those willing to test to Pader Health Centre III where the team provides necessary counselling before and after the tests. The VHTs continue making follow-up visits for counselling to those who test positive.
“We believe that if all people know their status, are well informed and use ABC, deaths caused by HIV/AIDS will eventually become history in our communities.” Akello adds
Ending stigmatization
HIV/AIDS-related stigma still exists in communities of Pader as explained by Gift Lamara (not real name), a mother of two living with the virus. Lamara says that it’s the fear of stigmatization that denies people the opportunity to know their HIV status. “Those who test positive get too scared to disclose their results to their partners,” expresses Lamara; adding that stigma only but curtails HIV eradication.
A stigma index survey conducted in 2014 by NAFOPHANU indicates that 75% of people living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda experience stigma which greatly affects their self-esteem and general wellbeing.
To counter the vice, VHTs remind people to love, respect and help people with HIV/AIDS. People are advised to offer psychosocial support to those with HIV/AIDS through counselling and family members to provide balanced diets to them for a longer and healthy life.
Many thanks to Church of Sweden for the support towards LWF's activities aimed at eliminating HIV/AIDS and improving health in Pader district.
