Domestic violence and HIV bedfellows: The tale of Kalangala’s battered mothers
Dec 09, 2010
The Police in Kalangala receive about five cases of domestic violence every month and about four of defilement, especially by HIV-positive fathers
By Chris Kiwawulo
When Florence had a domestic brawl with her husband two years ago, the man beat her up and she left their home.
Florence had come with her 13-year-old daughter of another man from Masaka to Bunyama Island in Kalangala
district, but on leaving, she left the girl behind. On returning after six months, her husband had defiled the girl, impregnated her and infected her with HIV/AIDS. The man, Stephen Minaani, was arrested and is now facing trial in Masaka High Court as the girl is fighting for her life with HIV.
This appalling story is one of the dozens of cases that happen on several of the 84 islands
that make up Kalangala district, where the HIV/AIDS prevalence is currently estimated
at between 17 and 20%, reveals Dr. Edward Muwanga, the district HIV focal person.
“The prevalence was as high as 30% between 2001 and 2008 and more in some areas.â€
The national prevalence stands between 6.5% and 7%. In other cases, Muwanga says, married men go for sex workers or women other than their wives after they have had brawls at home. The head of the Police child and family protection
unit in Kalangala, Grace Night, says they receive about five cases of domestic violence every month and about four cases of defilement by fathers (both biological and step).
“Worryingly, majority of the fathers who defile their daughters
are HIV-positive,†Night says. Police, together with NGOs, have, therefore, started a sensitisation campaign to curb domestic violence as a proactive measure to avert the spread of HIV, especially among young girls.
The biggest challenge is lack of funds to access all the islands
that make up Kalangala district. She also notes that some men run to the mainland or other islands after committing
crimes. She, therefore, calls for funds to establish a mobile court that will enable islanders access justice and deter
more crime.
The HIV prevalence rate worsens in Kalangala when new people with infections go to the islands. In a crammed environment where the population
of women is way lower than that of men, sharing is a common practice which has largely contributed to the rise in the prevalence rate. For every 150 men, there are 100 women, says Muwanga, adding that the presence of high risk populations like sex workers, fishermen, boda boda riders, truck drivers and shambaboys working in palm oil plantations exacerbates the problem.
The island’s population is about 63,000 people and this is what Government budgets for when it comes to health service provision. But, due to a continued
influx of new people to the island, Muwanga says pressure on drugs has increased and as a result, the district experiences
drug shortages, especially for antiretroviral drugs (ARVs).
Consequently, many people end up dying due to failure to access drugs although some other patients fail to access ARVs due to transport constraints.
Betty Nantale from Kisujju island in Bujumba sub-county says she has to part with sh20,000 to come to Kalangala Health Centre IV to get ARVs.
The situation gets worse when it comes to patients who live on distant islands like Mazinga near the Uganda- Tanzania border. The cost of transport is very high since a litre of fuel costs as high as sh6,000 on majority of these islands. They need a minimum of sh40,000 to get to the ARVs’ collection point in Kalangala.
To this, Muwanga suggests that the Government steps in to organise mobile clinics to ensure that HIV patients access drugs and live positively. Otherwise,
he argues, the deaths from HIV/AIDS have resulted in an increase in the number of child-headed families in the district. Muwanga reveals that Kalangala has the highest
percentage of child-headed families in the entire country at 6.1% of the district population.
Interventions like the Kalangala
Home-Based Voluntary Counselling and Testing (KHBVCT)
programme have come in place and tested over 50% of the people in the district . The Kalangala district Forum of People Living with HIV/AIDS Network (KAFOPHAN) has also bailed out many living with HIV.
Funded by Action Aid Uganda, the Civil Society Organisation, Kalangala District Development Programme and the National Forum of People Living with HIV/AIDS, KAFOPHAN
has so far reached out to 1,800 residents in Kalangala’s seven sub-counties.
“Our aim is to reach out to all people living with HIV in Kalangala and to ensure that they access ARVs so that they can live longer like other normal
human beings,†says Molly Mulaaza, the chairperson of KAFOPHAN. Mulaaza, who tested HIV-positive in 1992 after her husband died, says it has always been her wish to unite HIV-positive persons in Kalangala. Mulaaza, a mother of seven, is now able to look after
her children and four other orphans. Although there are 84 islands in Kalangala, the Government
has only gazetted 62 landing sites yet the rest also need help, Mulaaza points out.
With ActionAid, KAFOPHAN offers Kalangala residents counselling, training in prevention,
care and treatment of HIV patients. Ssanyu Kalibbala, the ActionAid Uganda communications
coordinator, says people living with HIV need extra care in terms of social service provision like feeding and health care. “A person who is HIV-positive needs three times the energy of a normal person to perform a given task,†Kalibbala
notes.
She urges the Government to ensure that people living with HIV in Kalangala access ARVs so as to live longer. ActionAid started the Kalangala district initiative project in 1999 withthe
aim of improving health and sanitation in the district.
They later changed into an integrated project with child sponsorship funding in 2001 focusing on agriculture and education. In 2007, the thematic
focus changed to education and HIV/AIDS, an area Kalibbala says service delivery was unjust and inequitably delivered.
Because of ActionAid’s continued advocacy for increased health service delivery, some mothers like 29-year-old Lillian
Basirika, who is HIV-positive, was able to have an HIV-negative baby when she accessed the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV service. Basirika, whose son is now nine months, says she tested positive in 2006 and she started taking septrin immediately.
Her husband is also positive and through sensitisation, he has been made to accept
the condition instead of turning violent like many men in Kalangala do on realising that they are positive. “I tested at Kalangala Health Centre IV. But since I asked him to come with me, he was counselled and he did not turn violent when we got the results,†Basirika,
a resident of Bujumba village in Bujumba sub-county says.
With a vision to ensure a world without poverty and injustice in which every person
enjoys their right to a life with dignity, ActionAid thrives to work with poor people to eradicate poverty by overcoming the injustice and inequity that cause it.
When Florence had a domestic brawl with her husband two years ago, the man beat her up and she left their home.
Florence had come with her 13-year-old daughter of another man from Masaka to Bunyama Island in Kalangala
district, but on leaving, she left the girl behind. On returning after six months, her husband had defiled the girl, impregnated her and infected her with HIV/AIDS. The man, Stephen Minaani, was arrested and is now facing trial in Masaka High Court as the girl is fighting for her life with HIV.
This appalling story is one of the dozens of cases that happen on several of the 84 islands
that make up Kalangala district, where the HIV/AIDS prevalence is currently estimated
at between 17 and 20%, reveals Dr. Edward Muwanga, the district HIV focal person.
“The prevalence was as high as 30% between 2001 and 2008 and more in some areas.â€
The national prevalence stands between 6.5% and 7%. In other cases, Muwanga says, married men go for sex workers or women other than their wives after they have had brawls at home. The head of the Police child and family protection
unit in Kalangala, Grace Night, says they receive about five cases of domestic violence every month and about four cases of defilement by fathers (both biological and step).
“Worryingly, majority of the fathers who defile their daughters
are HIV-positive,†Night says. Police, together with NGOs, have, therefore, started a sensitisation campaign to curb domestic violence as a proactive measure to avert the spread of HIV, especially among young girls.
The biggest challenge is lack of funds to access all the islands
that make up Kalangala district. She also notes that some men run to the mainland or other islands after committing
crimes. She, therefore, calls for funds to establish a mobile court that will enable islanders access justice and deter
more crime.
The HIV prevalence rate worsens in Kalangala when new people with infections go to the islands. In a crammed environment where the population
of women is way lower than that of men, sharing is a common practice which has largely contributed to the rise in the prevalence rate. For every 150 men, there are 100 women, says Muwanga, adding that the presence of high risk populations like sex workers, fishermen, boda boda riders, truck drivers and shambaboys working in palm oil plantations exacerbates the problem.
The island’s population is about 63,000 people and this is what Government budgets for when it comes to health service provision. But, due to a continued
influx of new people to the island, Muwanga says pressure on drugs has increased and as a result, the district experiences
drug shortages, especially for antiretroviral drugs (ARVs).
Consequently, many people end up dying due to failure to access drugs although some other patients fail to access ARVs due to transport constraints.
Betty Nantale from Kisujju island in Bujumba sub-county says she has to part with sh20,000 to come to Kalangala Health Centre IV to get ARVs.
The situation gets worse when it comes to patients who live on distant islands like Mazinga near the Uganda- Tanzania border. The cost of transport is very high since a litre of fuel costs as high as sh6,000 on majority of these islands. They need a minimum of sh40,000 to get to the ARVs’ collection point in Kalangala.
To this, Muwanga suggests that the Government steps in to organise mobile clinics to ensure that HIV patients access drugs and live positively. Otherwise,
he argues, the deaths from HIV/AIDS have resulted in an increase in the number of child-headed families in the district. Muwanga reveals that Kalangala has the highest
percentage of child-headed families in the entire country at 6.1% of the district population.
Interventions like the Kalangala
Home-Based Voluntary Counselling and Testing (KHBVCT)
programme have come in place and tested over 50% of the people in the district . The Kalangala district Forum of People Living with HIV/AIDS Network (KAFOPHAN) has also bailed out many living with HIV.
Funded by Action Aid Uganda, the Civil Society Organisation, Kalangala District Development Programme and the National Forum of People Living with HIV/AIDS, KAFOPHAN
has so far reached out to 1,800 residents in Kalangala’s seven sub-counties.
“Our aim is to reach out to all people living with HIV in Kalangala and to ensure that they access ARVs so that they can live longer like other normal
human beings,†says Molly Mulaaza, the chairperson of KAFOPHAN. Mulaaza, who tested HIV-positive in 1992 after her husband died, says it has always been her wish to unite HIV-positive persons in Kalangala. Mulaaza, a mother of seven, is now able to look after
her children and four other orphans. Although there are 84 islands in Kalangala, the Government
has only gazetted 62 landing sites yet the rest also need help, Mulaaza points out.
With ActionAid, KAFOPHAN offers Kalangala residents counselling, training in prevention,
care and treatment of HIV patients. Ssanyu Kalibbala, the ActionAid Uganda communications
coordinator, says people living with HIV need extra care in terms of social service provision like feeding and health care. “A person who is HIV-positive needs three times the energy of a normal person to perform a given task,†Kalibbala
notes.
She urges the Government to ensure that people living with HIV in Kalangala access ARVs so as to live longer. ActionAid started the Kalangala district initiative project in 1999 withthe
aim of improving health and sanitation in the district.
They later changed into an integrated project with child sponsorship funding in 2001 focusing on agriculture and education. In 2007, the thematic
focus changed to education and HIV/AIDS, an area Kalibbala says service delivery was unjust and inequitably delivered.
Because of ActionAid’s continued advocacy for increased health service delivery, some mothers like 29-year-old Lillian
Basirika, who is HIV-positive, was able to have an HIV-negative baby when she accessed the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV service. Basirika, whose son is now nine months, says she tested positive in 2006 and she started taking septrin immediately.
Her husband is also positive and through sensitisation, he has been made to accept
the condition instead of turning violent like many men in Kalangala do on realising that they are positive. “I tested at Kalangala Health Centre IV. But since I asked him to come with me, he was counselled and he did not turn violent when we got the results,†Basirika,
a resident of Bujumba village in Bujumba sub-county says.
With a vision to ensure a world without poverty and injustice in which every person
enjoys their right to a life with dignity, ActionAid thrives to work with poor people to eradicate poverty by overcoming the injustice and inequity that cause it.