Uganda has been applauded for its efforts in fighting HIV/AIDS but women living with HIV ‘(WLHA) do not agree with entirety of this assertion. They have suffered all kinds of injustices and they look at 2011 as a prospect for change.

Jackie Kemigisha was born HIV negative. As the only child, she was loved and treasured. She played with dolls and dreamed of going to school, getting a good job and starting her own family. 

However, everything changed when she made 15 years old. In a shaky, failing voice she reveals the ordeal of the rape that changed her life. In Bushenyi district, at unknown destination and in an unconscious state, she not only lost her innocence to a man she never loved nor knew, but also contracted HIV from the remorseless assailant.

“At first my family was very supportive, I was counselled but It was not until it was revealed that I had contracted the HIV that my world crashed.”

She was in Senior Three at the time. After the counselling sessions and treatment she was able to return to school. However the devil was not done in showing its ugly head. Her parents later abandoned her; they could not handle the stigma any more.

In 2003, when Kemigisha completed Senior Six, her father saw no logic in continuing to pay tuition fees and buying drugs for someone whose death was imminent.

At 19 with no family support, no source of income, no outside help and yet HIV positive, Kemigisha’s future was dark. It’s her unwavering courage that saw her withstand all the tribulations. She started looking for jobs. Fortunately she got one where she could eke a living.

She used her little savings to pay for her tuition at university. She is now 26 and a first year student of Bachelor of Commerce in Makerere University. Most of her friends with whom she sat university entry examinations at Katikamu SDA Secondary School in Luweero graduated three years ago. Today, Kemigisha volunteers with the National Forum for People Living with HIV/AIDS Networks in Uganda (NAFOPHANU). Her parents are still expecting her death anytime.

As a person living with HIV/AIDs, she has faced stigma from society but she says the most daunting challenge is the distress she goes through to access ARV drugs. WLHA have had their sexual and reproductive health rights habitually abused. They can not negotiate for safer sex in a marriage, misadvised sterilisation (in spite of the many alternative methods of family planning) and discrimination at health centres and police when they go to report cases. They also have difficulties in getting appropriate information and treatment.

Kemigisha says this denial drives them to indulge in vices like theft and prostitution for survival. Combating HIV/AIDS is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals that were adopted by world leaders in 2000 to be achieved by 2015.

During the conference by the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW) in Kampala on September 24, the women declared that it’s time political leaders addressed their plight. They have now adopted: “A 2011 election manifesto for women living with HIV and our sexual and reproductive rights for real” as their slogan in next year’s presidential elections. They have vowed not to give their vote to any party or presidential candidate that does not have a clear provision to support women living with HIV. The ICW is a regional organisation with over 10,000 members across the country. They network with all women living with HIV/AIDS in the country and organisations supporting HIV-positive people to have a formidable voice.

The Uganda AIDS Commission’s Country Progress Report released in March 2010 puts the number of women living with HIV at 631,195 out of the total of 1101,317 people carrying the virus by December 2008.

The women call for access to preventive care like post- exposure prophylaxis (PEP) which can prevent HIV infection after rape. But this treatment is expensive. The women demand that this kit should be available in all health centres and at an affordable price. At Mulago Hospital PEP costs Shs200,000 which is too expensive for most Ugandans.

Asuman Basalirwa, the JEEMA president, told The Independent that the party believes the provision of social services is a responsibility of the state. He says health services like treatment, testing and counselling should be available in all public and private hospitals and clinics and accessible by every infected persons at no cost.

Toterebuka Bamwenda, the publicity secretary of Forum for Democratic Change, says FDC promises to provide health services and treatment to all irrespective of their social or gender status in all health centres.

HIV/AIDS is a global pandemic and has received enormous financial support from donor countries. But in Uganda, subsequent interventions to reduce the HIV prevalence and prolong lives of those infected, have been abused by government bureaucrats for self enrichment. The stories of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Malaria and TB and Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation are still fresh in the public mind.

Health and HIV/AIDS is likely to become a hot election issue in 2011. With the increasing incidence of HIV and the declining health care in the country, people infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS will likely be attracted to find a candidate or party that has a promising manifesto that gives them hope.

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