The long walk home: How HIV infected women in Ghana seeking support will go to any lengths to avoid exposure

I’ve just returned from meeting Alicia and Patience (not their real names), who live in the east of Ghana.

Worlds apart

Alicia is 21 and Patience is in her 40s, on first sight they seem worlds apart. Alicia, a young mother with lots to say and an interest in fashion, and Patience, a more conservative modest lady who looks older than her years. However, what these two ladies from different generations have in common is a life-threatening virus. They are both HIV positive.

They agreed to meet me in a remote location to share their stories. The community I travel to is only 3 hours away from the capital Accra but it feels like another world. Here, life has carried on much as it always has: marrying young, having large families, farming cassava and maize and going to church. So I was shocked to find out that what appears on first sight as a pretty rural community has an HIV prevalence rate of 10%, making it one of the highest in the country.

The impact of HIV

I am introduced to Alicia and Patience by Christiana; she is a Community development worker, who has been trained by Womankind’s partner FIDA-Ghana as a paralegal. As a paralegal Christiana is able to offer advice to women about their rights and how to access appropriate support and services. She tells me that most of the women she supports are contesting issues of child maintenance, property rights or domestic violence.

These kinds of rights violations are even more acute when women are affected or infected by HIV or AIDS. Alicia, for example, has suffered a double blow: her partner infected her when she was only 17, and after his death from the illness the fact that they were not legally married meant his family will not recognise the child and provide any support. She also struggles to afford the drugs she needs to keep her fit and healthy and to allow her to look after herself and her 5 year old son.

Listening to the stories of these women I was struck by the lack of support they get and the stigma and discrimination they endure. Her desperation to keep it a secret is so strong that that Patience travels over 50km using different kinds of public transport to attend this self-help group. She was not the only one who is forced to undertake long and costly journeys to hide her status. Christiana tells me that the same happens in the opposite direction and that people from this community travel far afield to receive their medication or attend counselling. That makes it very hard to try to identify the true prevalence and address the situation in the area.

A nurse, Elizabeth, who has also been trained as a paralegal informs me that she deals with 400 patients but knows the true figure is much higher than this. FIDA is working with the 23 paralegals in the area to reach out to women affected or infected by HIV or AIDS and sensitise communities to the issues and reduce the stigma and discrimination that exists. It is also ensuring that those living with the virus can access their medication and nutrition that they desperately need to stay strong and healthy to combat the illness.

A lifeline

Christiana tells me that since the paralegal training she feels she can offer more support to women like Alicia and Patience. She often attends the monthly meetings for people living with HIV and AIDS and says that she can now give more informed advice, mediate on their behalf and work with the local council to find financial support for them.

As I say goodbye to Alicia, Patience and the other group members all silently going their separate ways, I realise what a lifeline this clandestine support group is. Once a month they can be in a safe and honest environment where they can unburden themselves and offer each other support. The fact that they have someone like Christiana there to listen, give advice and fight their cause offers hope in what has often seemed a gloomy and uncertain future.

Catherine Klirodotakou is Womankind’s Programme Manager for Ghana. Find out more about our work there.

Post by Sarah Jackson