She preaches prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV
TO mark Women’s Day on March 8, New Vision holds an annual Women Achiever’s Award. The award is meant to recognise the efforts of women doing extraordinary things to change the lives of people within their community.This year, we would like to recognise women doing their best to save the lives o
By Daniel Edyegu
WHAT would you do if you took your bedridden spouse to the hospital, and the doctor does separate blood tests on each of you to ascertain your sero status; and after finding out you are HIV-positive, decides that you break the news to your bedridden spouse?
Jane Apolot, a 62-year-old widow living with HIV/AIDS, threw the bombshell back at the doctor: “I told the doctor straight in the face that he was trained to do that. Whereas I had heard and accepted my new status, I was not certain how my husband would react on receiving the sad news. I was afraid that breaking the news to him would either shock him to death or speed up his death,†Apolot narrates.
The year was 1991 when awareness about HIV/AIDS was low and stigma, especially in Uganda, was at its peak.
Like the proverbial eagle that renews its strength, Apolot defied the odds and grew stronger each day.
Two decades after losing her husband to AIDS, rather than wallow in self-pity, Apolot has lived to tell her story by preaching awareness about the virus and prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT).
Apolot underwent training with the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in 2007 as a support agent, before being attached to Namakwe Health Centre in Namakwekwe ward, Mbale municipality. Here, she is charged with counselling mothers before and after accessing antenatal care.
Her routine includes educating healthy mothers and those living with the virus on how to minimise passing it on to their unborn babies.
Eight o’clock every Tuesday and Thursday finds Apolot at her desk at the health unit.
She takes on her duties with the passion of a woman who has been through it all — informing the mothers about the relevance of testing, allaying fears about the virus and what the outcome of the test, whether positive or negative, implies.
“I have realised that mothers feel at ease with us who have the virus counselling them than those whose health status is okay. This is because we share personal experiences. Some do not believe us though, perhaps because we look healthy.â€
“I have had people from Bududa and Sironko seeking information about the virus, despite the existence of the numerous health units that can serve a similar purpose,†Apolot adds.
For mothers who test negative, Apolot emphasises the need for faithfulness and coming along with their partners at the next visit.
Apolot says even after counselling, some often refuse to accept their status while others withhold it from their husbands for fear of divorce and other likely repercussions. Apolot follows up the mothers during routine outreach services every Wednesdays to offer additional counselling.
She also advises them to start on the Zidovudine anti-HIV drug treatment to minimise chances of mother-to-child transmission during delivery.
It is no easy task though. Being an urban area, sometimes you go to follow up a patient only to find they have relocated from the rented house to an unknown destination.
“Whereas some mothers relocate due to stigma, some withdraw to the villages away from the prying eyes of the public. Trouble is that sustaining treatment in the rural area becomes a problem and poses a health risk both to the mother and the unborn child,†Apolot says.
Whereas it is inappropriate for a mother living with HIV/AIDS to breastfeed a baby for risk of infection, Apolot says due to poverty, most mothers cannot afford alternative feeding.
Scovia Apio, a midwife at Namakwekwe Health Centre, says though the programme providing support agents to the health unit wound up in 2009, Apolot occasionally offers voluntary service to the mothers.
“With the introduction of the PMTCT programme, Apolot’s role has helped minimise infection of newborn babies. Initially, mothers with the virus were afraid to access antenatal care. That has changed,†Apio says.
Not to strain the association financially, she offered office space for the association at her home in Namakwekwe. If she is not in the office meeting members, she is out counselling mothers with the virus to hang in there. Often, her emphasis is on engaging in self-help projects such as the National Agricultural Advisory Services.
Using her influence as the eastern regional chairperson of the National Community of Women Living with HIV in Uganda (NACWOLA), Apolot lobbied with the Uganda Heifer project to avail women living with HIV dairy goats for milk for the babies and income for self-help. Two hundred and ninety goats were delivered to women in Manafwa, Bududa, Sironko and Mbale districts in 2004. The project requires that each beneficiary passes on two goats from the initial animal received. In a span of over six years, 30 more goats have been given out.
Margerete Wangolo, a beneficiary residing in Namakwekwe ward, says the project has enabled mothers living with HIV to be self-reliant and stay healthy.
“With the proceeds I got from the dairy goats, I have been able to purchase a heifer. The milk from the goats is more nutritious and twice as costly compared to that from cows. I have used part of the proceeds to begin brick burning that fetches me about sh2m per mound. Apolot is like a mother to me — she helped me overcome stigma,†Wangolo says.
Apolot beams back in apparent approval. “Everyday, I live my life hoping for the best. God is my provider. If it wasn’t for God, maybe I would have been stressed to death.â€
It is only then that you notice her strength is gradually succumbing to age.
WHAT would you do if you took your bedridden spouse to the hospital, and the doctor does separate blood tests on each of you to ascertain your sero status; and after finding out you are HIV-positive, decides that you break the news to your bedridden spouse?
Jane Apolot, a 62-year-old widow living with HIV/AIDS, threw the bombshell back at the doctor: “I told the doctor straight in the face that he was trained to do that. Whereas I had heard and accepted my new status, I was not certain how my husband would react on receiving the sad news. I was afraid that breaking the news to him would either shock him to death or speed up his death,†Apolot narrates.
The year was 1991 when awareness about HIV/AIDS was low and stigma, especially in Uganda, was at its peak.
Like the proverbial eagle that renews its strength, Apolot defied the odds and grew stronger each day.
Two decades after losing her husband to AIDS, rather than wallow in self-pity, Apolot has lived to tell her story by preaching awareness about the virus and prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT).
Apolot underwent training with the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in 2007 as a support agent, before being attached to Namakwe Health Centre in Namakwekwe ward, Mbale municipality. Here, she is charged with counselling mothers before and after accessing antenatal care.
Her routine includes educating healthy mothers and those living with the virus on how to minimise passing it on to their unborn babies.
Eight o’clock every Tuesday and Thursday finds Apolot at her desk at the health unit.
She takes on her duties with the passion of a woman who has been through it all — informing the mothers about the relevance of testing, allaying fears about the virus and what the outcome of the test, whether positive or negative, implies.
“I have realised that mothers feel at ease with us who have the virus counselling them than those whose health status is okay. This is because we share personal experiences. Some do not believe us though, perhaps because we look healthy.â€
“I have had people from Bududa and Sironko seeking information about the virus, despite the existence of the numerous health units that can serve a similar purpose,†Apolot adds.
For mothers who test negative, Apolot emphasises the need for faithfulness and coming along with their partners at the next visit.
Apolot says even after counselling, some often refuse to accept their status while others withhold it from their husbands for fear of divorce and other likely repercussions. Apolot follows up the mothers during routine outreach services every Wednesdays to offer additional counselling.
She also advises them to start on the Zidovudine anti-HIV drug treatment to minimise chances of mother-to-child transmission during delivery.
It is no easy task though. Being an urban area, sometimes you go to follow up a patient only to find they have relocated from the rented house to an unknown destination.
“Whereas some mothers relocate due to stigma, some withdraw to the villages away from the prying eyes of the public. Trouble is that sustaining treatment in the rural area becomes a problem and poses a health risk both to the mother and the unborn child,†Apolot says.
Whereas it is inappropriate for a mother living with HIV/AIDS to breastfeed a baby for risk of infection, Apolot says due to poverty, most mothers cannot afford alternative feeding.
Scovia Apio, a midwife at Namakwekwe Health Centre, says though the programme providing support agents to the health unit wound up in 2009, Apolot occasionally offers voluntary service to the mothers.
“With the introduction of the PMTCT programme, Apolot’s role has helped minimise infection of newborn babies. Initially, mothers with the virus were afraid to access antenatal care. That has changed,†Apio says.
Not to strain the association financially, she offered office space for the association at her home in Namakwekwe. If she is not in the office meeting members, she is out counselling mothers with the virus to hang in there. Often, her emphasis is on engaging in self-help projects such as the National Agricultural Advisory Services.
Using her influence as the eastern regional chairperson of the National Community of Women Living with HIV in Uganda (NACWOLA), Apolot lobbied with the Uganda Heifer project to avail women living with HIV dairy goats for milk for the babies and income for self-help. Two hundred and ninety goats were delivered to women in Manafwa, Bududa, Sironko and Mbale districts in 2004. The project requires that each beneficiary passes on two goats from the initial animal received. In a span of over six years, 30 more goats have been given out.
Margerete Wangolo, a beneficiary residing in Namakwekwe ward, says the project has enabled mothers living with HIV to be self-reliant and stay healthy.
“With the proceeds I got from the dairy goats, I have been able to purchase a heifer. The milk from the goats is more nutritious and twice as costly compared to that from cows. I have used part of the proceeds to begin brick burning that fetches me about sh2m per mound. Apolot is like a mother to me — she helped me overcome stigma,†Wangolo says.
Apolot beams back in apparent approval. “Everyday, I live my life hoping for the best. God is my provider. If it wasn’t for God, maybe I would have been stressed to death.â€
It is only then that you notice her strength is gradually succumbing to age.