Hope Mingles With Despair for Malawian Women With AIDS

The widespread stigmatization of people testing sero-positive with the deadly HIV virus has led to people being quarantined in most communities in Malawi. As a result, a feeling of lost hope, despair and of a doomed future has arisen.

However, the formation of such non-governmental associations such as the National Association of People Living With HIV/AIDS in Malawi (NAPHAM), has raised expectations and brought a feeling of optimism back to the lives of many.

Country-wide, the fear that contracting the virus automatically spells doom is now being dispelled, and the media is being urged to spread the message of hope to all. A message that says: AIDS or no AIDS, life will continue.

Personal Tragedy

Thirty-year-old Mary Kambalu was told that she tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Her life turned into a nightmare when only two months later she was also diagnosed with tuberculosis at one of the major hospitals in the country.

“When you look back at some situations that happen in life, they seem surreal, like a dream. I remember the day when one of the clinical officers approached me at a referral hospital in Malawi to explain what was making me continually sick. He sat close to me and told me I had tuberculosis of the lungs,” said Mary.

“You can imagine my feeling after having been told only two months earlier that I was HIV-positive. I lost all hope. I told myself that I was finished,” said Mary while carrying her three-year-old child in hand.   

Mary’s work has been affected as a result. She cannot work as well as she used to in the past. She explains that people living with HIV/AIDS are also being discriminated against in the work place. “We are sidelined for the most part out of a fear that we cannot make contributions to our employers and the development of our country,” she explained.

“When they saw that my health was deteriorating at a steady pace, they fired me. They told me that I could no longer perform to the best of my ability. I am currently seeking legal redress as a result. How will I pay my water and electricity bills and my rent if I am jobless?” she asked. This is discrimination at its best.

The HIV/TB Equation

With the HIV/AIDS pandemic that has swept away the lives of millions across sub-Saharan Africa, together with wide-spread poverty, hunger, drought, famine, environmental degradation and civil war, for Africa it never rains, but pours.

Jan van Hombergh, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) TB and leprosy advisor, recently told journalists in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that tuberculosis (TB) is claiming more lives today in Africa than ever. Most TB patients in the continent also live with the deadly virus that causes AIDS.

Out of the 14 million people in the world who are infected both with HIV/AIDS and with TB, more than 9 million are in Africa, he said.

“HIV/AIDS is dramatically fuelling the tuberculosis pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Hombergh.

According to Hombergh, TB kills up to half of all AIDS patients worldwide.

A Constant Struggle

Struggling with economic instability, Africa is already reeling, hard-hit with another giant killer, malaria. The continent is thus no doubt feeling the very negative impacts of HIV/AIDS on its economy.

Madalo Chimutu, who lives in Lilongwe, was told that she had the deadly HIV virus after going for a test. She says that life hasn’t been easy ever since. But thanks to the advice provided by counsellors at the Malawi AIDS Counselling and Resource Organization (MACRO), she has learned that there can still be life after AIDS.

Another woman indirectly burdened as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic is Tamandra Phiri. Since her sister and brother-in-law passed away in 2001 as a result of AIDS, Tamandra has been taking care of her sister’s three children.

“Since my sister’s death from HIV/AIDS, and her husband’s earlier death, it’s been difficult for me taking care of the kids. I don’t really have a good job. I rely on piece work, and with these hard economic times facing Malawi, it’s really been an uphill task,” said Tamandra.

An average person in Malawi survives on less than US$1 per day, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The majority of people in the country also live in remote areas where, for access to health services, they must travel for long distances.

A major hurdle facing AIDS patients is providing their children with a good education, clothes, good food, and the parental care that every child deserves.

“Sometimes when I go out to play, I feel sorry for myself since my playmates go to better schools and dress better. They have everything they need,” said Tamandra’s nephew Joel.

“Were we created to suffer like this on this planet?” added Tamandra desperately.

Phiri, who has tested positive for the HIV virus herself, has stopped engaging in multiple sexual relationships. She said that she strictly adheres to the advice given to her by the AIDS counsellors that visit her often.

According to a survey conducted by MACRO, more males go for voluntary HIV testing than do females. And, according to the National AIDS Commission (NAC) in  Malawi, it is the active age range of 15 – 49 that has been hit the hardest.

Hope for the Desperate

The Malawi government recently rolled out a free ARV (antiretroviral) therapy program to the tune of US$196 million and is currently training the technical personnel needed to kick-start the program.

The original plan of the ambitious project was to dispense the drugs to the country’s major referral hospitals. The drugs were then to be distributed out to other district hospitals in remote areas of the country after modalities were put in place.

However, according to Bizwick Mwale, executive director of the NAC in Malawi, the lack of adequate, trained personnel was a stumbling block to get the program on the move countrywide.

It is hoped that over 35,000 HIV infected patients in Malawi will eventually benefit from the project that is funded by the Global Fund Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Read Also:

• Orphaned by AIDS

• AIDS: A Threat to Africa’s Environment

• Curable TB Kills in Pakistan

• Taking a Bite Out of Africa

* Charles Mkoka is an independent Malawian environmental writer with much experience in environmental issues. He has worked in the field of environment and natural resources since 1996, after graduating from the Malawi Natural Resources College. Apart from being a writer, he is also a wildlife educator, specialist and guide. You can reach him at: mkokach@yahoo.com