WUNRN
GHANA - RURAL WOMEN NEEDS - AIDS
HOSPICE - TRAGIC CASE EXAMPLE
Nomusa Taylor-Dube
March 3rd, 2009
53rd UN CSW - NY
Girl Guides of Canada - World Association
of Girl Guides & Girl Scouts - WAGGGS
CSW Panel Speech: What Priority Policy Changes Are Needed to Promote the Advancement of Rural Women
in the Upper West
Hello my name is Nomusa Taylor-Dube
and I am part of the Girl Guides of Canada, a member organization of the World
Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.In 2006, I lived and volunteered in
Upper West Region, in
I would like to start by highlighting, that since my experience in 2006 a lot has changed but the common reality of rural women in the Upper West Region of Ghana with HIV and AIDS remains the same; THEY ARE NOT LIVING WITH AIDS BUT DIEING FROM IT. This addresses the crucial fact that these women fall outside the framework that was created to protect them, rendering them further marginalized.
HIV and AIDS rates in the Upper West Region are generally inaccurate because the cases are underreported. The rates are based on statistics collected from hospitals and clinics who must first diagnose in order for it to be reported at the regional level. Many of the rural women can either not afford the charges associated with getting to and using hospital services or they prefer not to be tested in order to avoid being ostracized from their families and community, the centre of life in this region.
I will now move on to: The stages and realities of rural women infected with HIV in Upper West Region:
-It starts out that women contract HIV and continue to live in their community until they start to show signs of their health condition worsening.
- When they become very ill they go to the hospital (if they can afford it or can access some form of credit or loan)
- If the women are lucky enough to get tested and receive a proper diagnose, a small minority will receive quality ARV treatment.
- The women who go undiagnosed or do not receive treatment when their families can no longer care for them are either left to fend for themselves or now have the option of living at the Wa Peace House.
I will now highlight The CEDAW
(Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women), specifically
Article 14’s main points and relate them directly to my experiences with women
who have HIV and AIDS in the Upper West Region,
1• to participate in the elaboration and implementation of development
planning at all levels:
This was not an option for the rural women because
most of the health strategies came from the Ministry of Health who took direct
orders from the capital city (
2• to have access to adequate health care facilities, including family
planning;
At the time in 2006, my work at the Wa Regional Hospital showed me that the hospital was overcrowded, under funded and understaffed. There was not one single permanent female doctor for a population of close to 580 000 people of which just over 300 000 were women. Although, there were some small efforts toward family planning, after a conversation with one of the physicians I quickly realized that they often did not even have suture kits for women with post delivery complications so how could they justify family planning materials. It is not that these women do not want to seek preventive methods and treatment but all too often they don’t have access to it.
3• to benefit from social security programs:
At the time a national health insurance
scheme was being implemented but it was evident that many rural women would not
be covered because they could not afford the minimal contributions. Social
security was provided in the form of family who acted as caregivers both
physically and economically, not the State. Many services that the government
does not have the capacity or fails to provide are often picked up by
NGOs. This region is unfortunately
underserved by NGOs.
*I would like to note that The Wa Regional Hospital
gave occasional meal supplements to rural women with HIV and AIDS but it was in
very irregular installments.
4 • to obtain all types of training and education:
Often because these women choose not to know
their status or did not have access to ARV treatment due to health services,
infrastructure and location most were too sick to attend training and formal
education. Leading them into future poverty and despair while solidifying the
cycle they were trapped in.
5 • to organize self-help groups and cooperatives in order to obtain equal
opportunities through employment or self-employment:
There was a bi weekly self help/advocacy
group that the women had started but the topics and efforts of this group
revolved more around how the women could meet their basic needs and those of
their dependants and much less around advocacy for themselves and women in
similar situations at the regional and national level.
-
6• to participate in all community activities:
Many of the women could not participate because
they were shunned when disclosing their HIV and AIDS status to their families
and community. This really solidified that they would not be involved in
decision-making processes.
7• to have access to agricultural credit and loans, marketing facilities,
appropriate
technology and equal
treatment in land and agrarian reform as well as in land
resettlement schemes:
This is ideal but most of these women fall
outside this framework. They do not have the support system or the health to do
so.
Mainly in part to:
1. Culture practices which pass land down
from father to son, generally excluding women from land ownership and its
processes.
2. There is strong stigma attached to these
women and a common belief that they lack the ability to be productive members
of the community because they have HIV and AIDS.
3. Even if they did own land how would they
be able to tend to it and profit from it in such poor health.
8• to enjoy adequate living conditions, particularly in relation to
housing, sanitation, electricity and water supply, transport and
communications:
- Due to the governmental lack of infrastructure in
this region many women had limited access to markets. The roads leading to and
from the regional capital were all unpaved and during rainy season almost
impossible to pass.
-The overall housing, sanitation, and electricity
situation for these women was
deplorable, to put it nicely.
Now to discuss what
priority polices should be changed/added to promote the advancement of rural
women:
- The first thing is that these women must be officially and openly recognized as agents of change in their lives and the processes that are involved with it.
- The Ghanaian Government who has done a good job at addressing the HIV and AIDS epidemic at a national level has seemingly given unequal distribution of services and programs to the Upper West Region. Much pressure is needed to be put on them to make sure these women are not only looked after but are always consulted and are active in creating the national policies that affect them.
* I just wanted to say that very recently a new government
has come into power in
- As NGO representatives with a voice, we need to make sure that when we are putting suggestions forth like today, that these suggestions are not just reflective of the assumed majority but that the minority which fall outside the proposed frame work issues are also addressed in some manner. This is an essential way to say and show that EVERY GIRL and WOMEN is counted and important.
- Until the government can accurately address the situation NGOs and Grassroots Organizations must come together to identify the need through in-depth research and action by tackling the most pressing problems in the lives of Women living with HIV and AIDS in a sustainable manner with prevention as the main focus.
I will end with an anecdote: this is taken from my blog
(www.livejournal.com/~nomusa) that I wrote while in
Its titled: The worst day yet.
July 12, 2006
4:30 pm
At the beginning of the week a woman at SSNIT (were I lived) approached
me and asked about the Aids Hospice. Apparently, a relative of hers was
suspected of having AIDS. I gave here the information and we arranged to meet
the woman in her village (a 20 min drive outside of Wa). I have done this many
times before with the director of the AIDS hospice but this time was completely
different. The day before yesterday, this woman had had a blood test to find
out her status. We brought her to the hospital so she could find out the
results of her tests. I have been with patients before when they have found out
they are positive but this time it was especially difficult because she was
blindsided by the news. The reason her story is different is because she has 4
children, all under the age of 8. The youngest is only 9 months. The children
will now also be tested to find out their status. When we took her back to her
village I couldn’t help but cry as her 4 year old daughter ran up to the car
with a huge smile on her face. She has no idea that in a couple of years she
like many other children will be orphaned by AIDS.
The day got progressively and emotionally more difficult. In the
afternoon I went to discuss a few things with the AIDS counselor at the
regional hospital. There were two children and a grandmother sitting in the
waiting room. They looked at me as if they knew who I was but I had no idea
until it finally clicked. I didn’t recognize the children but the older woman
was the mother of Joyce (the first woman to die at the hospice). I then
realized that the young boy and young girl were Joyce’s other children. I
didn’t know Joyce had more children. I was only aware of a teenage daughter who
had since become pregnant. The teenage daughter was devastated when her mother
died and is consequently looking for love and support but in the wrong places.
She is no longer going to school. I have also been told that the young boy and
young girl are not attending school either because the grandmother cannot
afford it. I wondered how there lives would have been different if their mother
was still alive and strong.
The hardest part of the day was when we went to pick up Rasheda.
This is Rasheda’s story:
Rasheda is a 20 year old woman.( Just like me)
She speaks English which means she has had some level of education (Just
like me)
She is beautiful and has goals and aspirations for the future. (Just
like me)
She has younger siblings (Just like me)
She has a mother and a father who care about her and love her (Just like
me)
But unlike me, what I didn’t tell you is:
Rasheda can’t walk.
Rasheda is less than 80 pounds.
Rasheda can’t control her bowels anymore.
Rasheda has bed sores from laying down all day.
Rasheda is 20 and is in the finally stages of AIDS.
Rahseda has been sick now for 4 years. She contracted it when she was
16.
When we picked Rasheda up, we had to carry her to the car and I had to
hold her in my arms so she wouldn’t fall over. She grabbed my hand and held it
tight. I knew she was scared. I was also scared. I looked in her eyes and I saw
a younger woman just like myself at the end of the long journey that is AIDS. I
cried. What makes her different than me? I know as a child she wished to grow
up and to one day have happy and healthy children. I know she wanted to go to
school and do something productive for society. I know she doesn’t want her
life to end like this. The worst part is realizing that there is nothing I can
do for her, to save her. She doesn’t even eat anymore. She is slowly wasting
away and I can’t do anything about it. ITS SOOOOOO FRUSTRATRING! I haven’t told
everyone yet but I am leaning towards going to medical school. I want to
provide free medical care for people so situations like this one can be
avoided. Also preventative care is equally important in spreading the knowledge
about illnesses and how they are contracted. I want to turn this immense
frustration and sorrow into something positive. Medical doctors, especially in
deprived areas make a world of difference, as I have seen at the hospital. I
want to be a doctor so I can help the people who otherwise wouldn't have access
due to financial constraints. Mainly on this continent and hopefully with rural
women and refugees.
AIDS kills people, I have seen this first hand. I have seen what is does.
It destroys families, friendships and quality of life for all. No one is
invincible so now is when you need to start to CARE.
In hopes of a brighter future for all,
Nomusa Taylor-Dube
World Association of Girl Guide & Girl Scouts - WAGGGS
http://www.wagggsworld.org/en/home
================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to:
wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com. Thank you.