Katakwi: Patients in agony as TASO stops outreach services

Mar 11, 2007

IF it were not for The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO), Ary Auma would probably not have known her sero status. She was among the first patients of TASO, when the organisation extended its services to Katakwi district in 2003. The services included outreach programmes.

By Alice Emasu

IF it were not for The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO), Ary Auma would probably not have known her sero status. She was among the first patients of TASO, when the organisation extended its services to Katakwi district in 2003. The services included outreach programmes.

Auma grieves how Constantine Ochaka, her husband of 20 years, concealed his status and infected her with the deadly virus. She watched Ochaka’s life drain out of him until the day he died.

Ochaka had reportedly conspired with health workers at Matanyi Hospital in Moroto district, where he was admitted for months, to keep secret the cause of his sickness. Auma nearly died in 2003 when she fell seriously ill.

“By the time I was admitted to Soroti Hospital, my CD4 cell count was 10. I was immediately put on anti-retroviral therapy. I discovered that my husband had died of AIDS,” she recalls.

But it is not that Auma is angry with her husband for bringing the dreaded virus into the family. She says she would have loved to help him live longer, like she is doing today.

Today, the 44-year-old Auma is a member of Katakwi Agangakinos People Living with HIV/AIDS Association (KEPLWA), situated in Ocorimongin IDP camp in Usuka sub-county, Katakwi district.

Auma often commutes to Ocorimongin IDP camp, 8km from her home in Obule Ngorok village, to counsel HIV patients with other members of KEPLWA.
Except for her skin, Auma looks fine. She began taking ARVs in 2004.

I found Auma with other members of KEPLWA at Stella Alungat’s home in the camp, where they have been meeting to discuss the news that TASO has decided to withdraw its outreach services from Katakwi. They wonder how they will survive without the organisation.

Worry is in every line of the wrinkled face of 75-year-old Eugenio Osele. He is one of the 29 members who have turned up for an impromptu meeting. As Victoria Ataet, 32, speaks, you clearly see that she is frightened. Like Aumo, Ataet is a volunteer counsellor and a care-giver in Katakwi parish.

Because of cattle rustling in the area, which was worsened by the Lord’s Resistance Army rebel attacks in 2003, thousands of people in Katakwi fled to IDP camps. Although many have returned to their homes, about 2,000 people are still living in the camps.

One of the counsellors in Ocorimongin camp said the plight of people living with HIV in the IDP camps is a forgotten issue. He says the patients almost have nothing to eat and care-givers.

“Every day, we hear of patients in critical condition, who have been locked up in huts. We rush to the scene and break doors to rescue them. Those days, we would inform TASO about the cases and its officers would rescue the patients,” interjects another member of KEPLWA.
Although we try to rescue the patients, we are also sickly and weak. We do not have transport to take the patients to hospital,” she says.

The 2006 HIV/AIDS report by the World Lutheran Federation shows that vulnerable groups suffer stigma and discrimination from their families and communities.

“From the community, positive attitudes and actions of goodwill and support are greater towards orphans than widows and people living with AIDS.”

According to the report, Toroma sub-county has the highest number of HIV patients, followed by Acowa, Usuk and Magoro, all bordering Karamoja region.

Jane Achaet, a nurse at Magoro health unit says the HIV infection rate is up in the camps due to hardships.
She says women and girls are the worst hit by the virus.

“These days, most patients are reluctant to go to the clinic at the district because it is costly and that they take long without being attended to. Some patients wait for two days before they see a doctor.”

Achaet says pregnant HIV-positive mothers, who are referred to the district clinic for the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission treatment by the HIV/AIDS activist in the district, end up at Magoro health unit, which does not have the treatment. This is mainly because they do not have the transport fares and fear lining up for days.
“Most of these women end up delivering from Magoro yet the clinic does not have drugs. Their babies could be vulnerable to HIV infection,” she notes.

The cost of public transport from Magoro to the district clinic is sh2,500.
The principle health inspector for Katakwi Town Council, Raymond Idoloi Okia, says the HIV/AIDS situation in the district is pathetic.

“It is unfortunate that our key partners like AIM and Uphold are winding up their services in the district.”
Idoloi says TASO pledged to resume its outreach services this year.

Earlier, TASO centre manager, Samuel Isiko, said rumours that TASO was withdrawing its services from Katakwi had been exaggerated. TASO services in Katakwi are administered through the outreach clinic, one of their service delivery models.

But in 2006, the organisation was overwhelmed by the large number of clients.

“We treated about 500-600 clients during every visit. We realised that we could not handle the work alone and asked district officials for a collaborative clinic.”

Isiko says TASO also feared the possibility of overdosing some patients who, due to desperation, were accessing treatment from Katakwi Hospital as well as its outreach programmes.

He says the HIV infection rate in Teso is high, with about 20% of the adult population infected with the virus.

“Looking at the data from our service delivery, at least 20% of the people are infected. But these figures are going down because of the awareness programmes and the availability of ARVs, which has encouraged people to test their sero status to seek treatment,” says Isiko.

Simon Omeke, the deputy district health manager, says 2.2% of the mothers who attend antenatal care in the district had tested HIV-positive in 2005.

He regrets that the HIV services are not easily accessible for most people living with the virus. Omeke blames this on the limited staff at the district AIDS clinic.
He, however, denies knowledge of discrimination of HIV patients.

“It is possible that the patients are stigmatised, but the Community Resource Volunteers (CRV) and the Village Health Monitors (VHM) have not reported such incidences to us,” he argues
He, however, observes that because the work of the CRV and the VHMs is voluntary, some of them may not be doing a good jobs.

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