Physical Health Uganda Project #30684

Stop the Cycle of HIV: Support Women and Children!

by Alive Medical Services

Project Report | Apr 29, 2019
Building an HIV-free Generation

By Pasquine Ogunsanya | Executive Director

A laboratory technologist draws blood

Building an HIV-free Generation – How the EMTCT Programme transformed a mother’s life

Clare, a resident of Kyebando learnt of Alive Medical Services (AMS) through her mother who is also a recipient of care at AMS. This was five years ago. She was first made aware of her HIV status when she was in primary school. Clare was born with HIV and she rejected treatment for some time because of fear of stigma and the routine of taking medicine.

“For the time I spent off medicine, I resorted to self-medication where I would buy sceptrin from drug shops and take, thinking that this would help me somehow.” She remembers falling sick one day and that’s when her older sister and her mother insisted on bringing her to AMS where she has been getting her treatment since then. “I had also acquired TB at the time and therefore was started on double treatment when I was enrolled into care here.”

Clare is now a mother of three through the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (EMTCT) program and all her babies are free from HIV. ‘I came here and explained to the health workers that I was pregnant. They fully supported me and started me on treatment to keep my baby from getting the virus.” She says that the treatment has helped her family especially her HIV negative partner from acquiring the virus.

Though she admits that it is difficult to reveal her status to her partner, Clare agrees to the fact that it is important for her partner to know her status. ‘He does not know that I am getting treatment from here. I am sure he is HIV negative because he has tested for HIV several times and I am also virally suppressed. In addition, I am afraid that when he learns about my status, I might lose my family forever.” Clare recalls losing her first family because of that and that’s why she wants to take her time before telling her husband about her status. In the meantime, the AMS counsellors are going through sessions with her to disclose to her partner in the most convenient and delicate way with their active involvement in the process.

Clare’s family is healthy and faring well in terms of raising her children. “My first born is in school and I will soon be enrolling the second one in school as well who is three years old now. I am ready and want to live for my boys. I want to give them an education and a quality life.” “I might give birth to another baby after these ones have been enrolled in school,” Clare adds.

The 32-year-old shop attendant reveals that she was always off work because of sickness. “It was after I resumed treatment that I thought of conceiving because I felt better and strong. This did not take away the fears of giving birth to an HIV positive baby. But when I spoke to musawo (Health worker) and she said I could have a child free from HIV, my hope was restored.”

Clare is happily attending to her business of running electronics shop near the old taxi park in Kampala. ‘I want to work for my family and ensure that my sons and husband remain HIV negative.”

Clare continuously hails the care, support and hope she received through the EMTCT program, “My greatest joy is that my sons are alive and HIV free. I don’t know how to express my gratitude for that; Thank you AMS. I cannot even imagine skipping my treatment because I now have what to live for; my sons.”

All HIV-positive pregnant women given ANC services

Links:

http://amsuganda.org/

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Jan 29, 2019
Confronting HIV with Bold steps - Vivian's story

By Pasquine Ogunsanya | Executive Director

Vivian crowned the Miss Young Positives 2018/2019

On Friday 23rd November 2018, Vivian Nabanoba was crowned Miss Y+ (Young HIV Positive) in the UNYPA (Uganda Network for Young People Living with HIV) Y+ Pageant at the Kampala Sheraton Hotel.

Vivian now 24 years of age lived a normal life, raised by her mother who managed to put her through school to attain an education through to higher learning at university. She also balanced school with her work at her mother’s restaurant. On a clear path to becoming successful in life, Vivian had nothing to worry about.

Vivian dated a young man for a long time and had always asked him to go and get themselves tested for HIV together, but all in vain. “If it wasn’t a football match it was always something else for him to not go,” Vivian shared.

“Two months down the road, I tested for HIV and turned out positive. It was the darkest day of my life. I did not know what to do, all I knew was that I was going to die a very painful death. All I pictured for my future was death and the things that I didn’t get the opportunity to do. I got on my knees and asked the doctor to check again. When I went home and saw my mum, I burst into tears and she instantly knew the results were not good,” Vivian painfully recalls.

The experience of stigma became a reality for Vivian when she found out that her then-boyfriend had let everyone at the university know of her HIV status. “Friends eluded me, no one spoke to me. I picked up some habits, I started to drink alcohol, going to bars all night, smoking cigarettes and subsequently stopped going to school but always lied to my mum that I was going.”

Fast forward, she meets another young man who really liked her, after one thing leading to the other, she gathered the courage to disclose to him about her HIV status. He agreed to get tested and recommended Alive Medical Services. “That was my introduction to AMS. The counsellors were nice and respectful and treated us with respect. I received an appointment, but I did not honour it but due to the good experience I had, I came back. I met a youth and children counsellor who introduced me to the Victors’ Club where I met young people who had the very same struggles that I had. They each had their own story and were happily living with them. I felt at home among them, and that was when I was initiated on antiretroviral treatment.” Vivian recalls.

Since then, Vivian went back to school to complete her degree, had her daughter who is HIV negative due to the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (EMTCT) and early infant diagnosis (EID) programmes here AMS.

I am grateful to Alive Medical Services and all I can say is thank you. I have learnt everything I know from here. This place has been home and will forever be home to me. I have developed a whole new meaning to life.

Vivian participates in peer-led activities at AMS

Vivian participates in a community dialogue at AMS

Links:

Transform the Lives of 13,000 Ugandans living with HIV

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Nov 1, 2018
The End of a Marriage & the Rise of a Change Maker

By Dr. Pasquine Ogunsanya | Executive Director

Sarah

“My life was perfect,” Sarah* reflects. “I grew up with my parents in a wealthy neighbourhood and lacked for nothing. I went to the finest schools and even attend college abroad.”

When Sarah returned home with a degree in statistics, she felt like everything was falling into place. “I met a man who swept me off my feet. He did everything right and I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him,” she recounted. Soon after the two were married and blessed with three children.

But slowly, things started going wrong. Her children were constantly sick and frequently in the hospital. They were treated for all sorts of infections but never seemed to get back on their feet completely. Her husband had also been in and out of the hospital. He had special doctors that looked after him that Sarah new nothing about.

“One day as I cleaned the bedroom, I found medicine in his drawer and became curious because we kept all our medicines in the bathroom cabinet. When I read the label I didn’t understand it, so I put it back and went about my day.”

“When I got to work that day, curiosity got the best of me. I went researched the drugs in the cabinet and discovered it was medication for people infected with HIV. My heart was pounding so fast. I couldn’t bear it. I couldn’t fathom the fact that my husband was HIV positive and never told me.”

“I called him immediately to ask if he was HIV positive. He said he wasn’t. He explained it away by saying the medication was given to him by his doctors as a trial drug for his medical condition.”

Unconvinced, Sarah went to her husband’s doctor and though he wasn’t at liberty to share his client’s information with her, she asked him to have a conversation with her husband. “It was then that I began to ask myself the tough questions – what if he is positive? My children, my health, what would become of us and our marriage?” She thought.

When she took her children to get tested, the results returned her greatest fears confirmed. She and all her little ones were infected. “I broke down in tears, I wanted to die. I even begged the doctor to check again and be sure.”

“With little strength, I called my parents and asked them to pick me up from the hospital. When we reached home, while my parents packed the children’s bags, I went to speak to my husband. He still denied to my face until I showed him our results, then he started to cry and said he did everything right to make sure the children and I never contracted the disease. I asked him if he knew he was positive before we got married, to which he said ‘yes,’” Sarah recalls with tears in her eyes.

After 13 years of marriage, Sarah left her husband and moved to her parents’ home with her children. It was from there that she was introduced to Alive Medical Services (AMS). “My children and I were received with so much care, they looked at us not as victims but as a family. My children have an amazing time when we come to receive our medication and to check our viral load, they never want to leave,” Sarah says.

“Over time I have learnt to live with this new reality and am now back on my feet. I am grateful to AMS for the love and care they have shown to me and my children. If it wasn’t for AMS, I know not what would have become of us.”

Sarah is now an advocate for women who are HIV positive and encourages others to get tested – even if they’re married.

Thank you for keeping Alive Medical Services and our clients in your hearts.

*Name and images in this story have been changed to protect the client’s identity.

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