Inter Press Service - December 26, 2002
María Isabel García

Torres, 35, is the regional coordinator of the Red Girasol, the only organisation in Colombia that assists HIV-positive women.

In her new role as an activist, Torres defends human rights in the field of health, "providing advice to help patients obtain social security coverage and to enroll in health coverage plans when they run into difficulties, and orienting them on how to take legal action when necessary," she said in an interview with IPS.

People living with HIV in this South American country frequently find it necessary to go to court to gain access to the specialised health services and treatment they need.

Torres, who has a vocational-technical degree as a media announcer and is studying for a degree in social communication, is not only active in the Red Girasol ("Sunflower Network").

She also works with another non-governmental organisation, the Foundation for Human Development and Sexuality, where she provides advice on prevention and sexual and reproductive health to teenagers.

In addition, she is active in Camino, an institution that runs rehabilitation programmes for drug addicts.

Torres' involvement with teenagers in Camino and the Foundation is largely motivated by the fact that she is a mother of a child living with HIV. "Having a child with HIV is a great source of grief. For women, the psychological and psychosocial aspects are more difficult, because we are mothers," she said.

"Those of us who have a child with HIV/AIDS must deal with feelings of guilt, while we suffer the conflict of not wanting to die, of wanting to continue to fight," she explained.

Since reading reports on the tendency of teenagers living with HIV in the United States to use drugs, Torres has been preparing herself for the moment when her HIV-positive son, who is now 10, and his eight-year-old sister, reach adolescence.

"We women are not only living for ourselves, but for our children, as we watch them grow and prepare ourselves to guide them through adolescence, which will be more difficult for them," she said.

By nature, "women are nurturers," and while we take care of our children and our partners, we also have to take care of ourselves, she added.

In Cali, a city of 2.2 million, there is one woman living with HIV for every three men, higher than the national ratio. Of the total 6,500 cases documented in the city, around 1,575 are women, according to official statistics.

The majority of women testing positive for HIV in Colombia are between the ages of 15 and 26, and most of them are homemakers, rather than professionals or working women, said Torres.

According to the governmental National Health Institute, in the 19 years since the first two cases of HIV/AIDS were detected in Colombia (one man and one woman), 27,965 cases have been reported, including 4,485 women.

But the numbers are actually much higher. A Health Ministry communique released in May stated that estimates based on "under-reporting in epidemiological notification," and statistical projections indicate that there are perhaps as many as 173,000 cases in this country of 42 million.

The problem requires greater funding to fill the gaps in information and meet the need for assistance for the patients and their families.

Torres' testimony demonstrates that involvement in an organisation addressing the specific problems and needs of people living with HIV is an important step forward.

"It is very gratifying to know that I have many abilities. I have learned to value myself more as a person and as a woman," she said.

But dealing with her HIV-positive status and that of her son while providing support to others on a daily basis "takes courage," said Torres. "You have to overcome many obstacles and deal with things like the sensation of impotence when you see someone doing poorly, and you inevitably identify with them."

Discouragement is also a problem, especially "when you see there are no funds and no political will" to confront the AIDS epidemic, "and that the struggle to gain access to services and obtain respect for our right to health care is infinite.

"There are also very frustrating moments, like when a court verdict is finally handed down," granting a patient access to the antiretroviral drugs needed to delay the onset of full-blown AIDS, "but the person has already died.

"Since there are so many fears surrounding HIV/AIDS, the most effective thing is unity among all of us who live with the disease," said Torres.

But she also underlined that prevention campaigns and assistance must focus on the specific characteristics and needs of each sector of the population.

The majority of prevention programmes and clinical studies focus mainly on men, she said. "Homosexuals have their own specific problems," while most heterosexual men living with HIV "are not organised, and they tend to share the Latin American 'machista' tendency of drinking and sleeping with a lot of women," said the activist.

"With respect to HIV-positive women, we are more exposed, because...we don't demand safe sex, nor do we practice it ourselves," she added. Married women tend to be reluctant to demand that their husbands use condoms, despite the risk of infidelity.

For women like Torres, the New Year holiday has an even greater significance now, because each new day that she and her son are alive merits celebration.

On New Year's Eve, Torres and her family will feast on a farm-raised chicken that has its own special meaning. "Look, I raised this chicken to bring to you for Dec 31st," the activist was told by a young peasant woman who she assisted in filing a lawsuit to gain access to health care and antiretroviral drugs for herself and her husband. (END/IPS/LA/HE HD/TRA-SO SW/MIG/DCL/02)

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