Inter Press Service - June 21, 2001
Katy Salmon

Add to that prejudice, hostility and discrimination from many of the people around you, and it's a small miracle that people living with HIV/Aids even manage to step outside of their houses.

"People point fingers at me in the street, in church. They whisper. Neighbours tell my visitors: 'You know she has Aids, she'll give it to you,'" says Patricia Asero, a 33 year-old mother, widow and HIV/Aids counsellor. She was just 22 when she found out that she was HIV positive.

Patricia is forgiving. She believes that it is fear that makes people treat her so badly. "They're scared of the disease, of catching it themselves," she says. Such callous behaviour is not just the result of ignorance. Shockingly, Patricia says the worst treatment has come from medical practitioners themselves.

"In one Nairobi hospital, they have a separate bathroom for HIV positive people. I went to use the normal bathroom and the nurse came and dragged me out," she recalls. "There were many women in there and she started shouting at me. It was so humiliating."

Eunice Odongo, another HIV positive Aids counsellor, works for Women Fighting Aids in Kenya (WOFAK). "I received a client who was really weeping. Her daughter is sick and she was told by the nurse in hospital that they should not share any cups with her at home," she says. "I explained to her that you can't catch HIV by sharing cutlery or food."

It is 20 years since Aids was first isolated and classified. While millions of Africans have died, people's attitudes towards the disease have barely changed. "Many people still believe that it's only immoral people that get Aids," says Eunice.

She says people are ashamed to be associated with Aids. "WOFAK's field station in Kayole [Nairobi's Eastlands] is stigmatised. If you are seen entering that office, people believe you are HIV positive.

Eunice finds the language that people use offensive as well. "The media call us 'victims' or 'sufferers'. People have to be sensitised that these are people living with HIV, they are not victims. They are not statistics. We are people." Both Eunice and Patricia are Luos, Kenya's third largest tribe. The Luo practice of wife inheritance -- itself a major contributor to the spread of HIV/ Aids - is another obstacle for women living with the disease.

When a woman's husband dies, she must be 'cleansed' and 'inherited' by another man. For the cleansing ritual to work, a condom cannot be used.

"When my husband died, I refused to be inherited. I said my husband had died of Aids and I was HIV positive," says Eunice. "There was a huge crowd and they were shocked. Some men said I was lying, that I didn't want to be inherited because I have a job in Nairobi and thought the man would use all my money."

In Luo culture, a woman who is not inherited is cursed. She is not allowed to fetch water or enter people's houses for fear that her bad luck will be passed on.

Eunice was not too worried about these old taboos. "But for women who live upcountry, they are under a lot of pressure to agree. They have no choice," she explains. "So many people are dying, some of these men inherit two or three wives."

In the city, the biggest hurdle facing people living with HIV/Aids is in the workplace. Eunice says most people are afraid to tell their employers about their HIV status for fear of losing their jobs.

Patricia says one of her clients, who worked in a hotel, was fired when his boss found out he was infected. "The head of the counselling centre went to the hotel and told his manager: 'Do you check your customers for HIV? How do you know they aren't a risk to your staff?'" The man was re-instated.

Eunice says that some employers try to find out the HIV-status of their pregnant female staff by contacting ante-natal clinics. "They're worried they'll have to start paying medical bills," she says.

Even Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni -- who has been praised for his pro-active approach in tackling the pandemic -- recently tried to discredit his presidential rival, Kizza Besigye, by telling the media that Besigye has Aids. The belief that HIV positive people are not fit for work is not just an insult. It also leaves them destitute.

The Kenya Federation of Employers (KFE) is taking a lead to protect HIV positive workers. The revised Code of Conduct says people living with HIV/Aids - now estimated at 2 million Kenyans -- should not be denied training, promotion, medical cover or insurance.

It is the cost of drugs that is at the heart of the problem - no one wants to pick up the bill. Gershon Konditi, KFE's deputy executive director, says most company health policies are inadequate when it comes to looking after HIV positive staff.

"Employers have medical schemes for ordinary diseases, but the National Hospital Insurance Fund only covers hospitalisation. They will not pay for anti-retroviral drugs."

Konditi believes there will be more cost sharing schemes in the future if the price of drugs is brought down so that a reasonable number of people can afford them.

"Employers cannot accept full responsibility. The government will have to come in and other stakeholders in public health. Patients may also have to pay a percentage," he says.

Eunice believes employers will soon realise that it pays to keep their HIV positive staff healthy, rather than let them die. "These are people who have capacity to run the organisation. If they leave them to die, the organisation might not do well," she says. "They are going to opt to buy the medicines to keep people going. It will be cheaper to put their staff on anti- retrovirals."

WOFAK is campaigning for greater involvement of people living with HIV/Aids in the workplace. "The voice of people living with Aids makes a difference because we are actually part of the solution. In every community we have people living with Aids. They are active people. Many do not even know their status," says Eunice.

Land-grabbing or disinheritance is another problem facing people living with HIV/Aids. The Federation for Women Lawyers in Kenya is currently handling four such cases.

"Because the head of the family has been infected, people come to grab land even before the person has died," says Eunice. "They believe you do not deserve this land because you are going to die and your wife will go too one day."

One Kenyan woman won a landmark ruling last year, after her husband had forced her to move into the servant's quarters because she was HIV positive. The court of appeal ruled in her favour and he was forced to take her back in. (ENDS/IPS/HE/ks/cr/01)

* Editors Advisory. This is one in a series of IPS features previewing the United Nations Special Session on AIDS, to be held in New York June 25-27. It is the first-ever Special Session devoted to a single disease. .
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