Last Monday was World AIDS day. There was a lot of activity around here, including marches, speeches, and free testing and counseling. There was also a lot of coverage in the media. The article below is transcribed directly from the local newspaper, and though a bit melodramatic, the story it documents is really not that uncommon. As one of my colleagues said, there is really almost no family here in Uganda that has not been impacted somehow by HIV/AIDS.
Daily Monitor, Monday Dec. 1, 2008, pg 5
By Evelyn Lirri
Fewer families have felt the pain that can be inflicted by HIV/AIDS more than that of 64-year old Rose Odongpiny of Layibi Division of Gulu District. Ms. Odongpiny has seen seven of her eight children, and most of their spouses, succumb to AIDS.
She had to start taking care of the 13 grandchildren whose parents were snatched by the cruel hand of death. She soon learnt that six of the grandchildren were infected with the HIV virus.
One of Ms. Odongpiny’s infected grandchildren, an 18year-old girl, the eldest of the orphans, posed an even bigger challenge. As if the HIV infection were not bad enough, she was also pregnant.
Looking after her grandchildren would not have been a problem, had Ms. Odongpiny not discovered three years ago during one of the home-based voluntary testing programs- she too was infected.
According to Ms. Odongpiny, she is likely to have contracted the virus while taking care of her children when they were bedridden. Because she HIV/AIDS can only be spread through sexual intercourse, she did not take any precautionary measures while nursing her children.
With no one else to turn to, Ms Odongpiny- who lost her husband in 1972- must once again fend for her family, except this time she has been weakened by the virus and needs as much help as the very children she was supposed to take care of. Ms. Odongpiny’s ordeal mirrors that of many grandparents who bear the enormous emotional burden of caring for their grandchildren who have been orphaned by the AIDS epidemic.
Statistics from the Demographic and Health Survey 2006 indicates that Uganda has over 2,000,000 orphans, most of whose parents died of HIV/AIDS and about 110,000 children who are less than 15 years are living with HIV/AIDS.
Ms. Odongpiny’s first agony is where to get food. “Food is a constant problem. It has become even harder nowadays because I don’t have anything to feed these children on. I don’t have money.” She said.
If she is lucky, she eats one meal a day, usually a meal of green vegetables and bens. Yet at times she has endured more than two days without food. Milk is out of the question for her, while meat is a luxury she can only afford once a year.
According to the regional HIV/AIDS special for Save the Children in Uganda, Mr. Edmond Kero, access to HIV/AIDS services and increasing awareness among people living with HIV/AIDS, especially children, is a top priority. Kero said over the years, Save the Children Uganda has undertaken a project identifying children with HIV/AIIDS and enrolling them for the various preventative services like access to antiretroviral treatment from the communities like that of Ms. Odongpiny.
Although here are no specific statistics of how many children are living with HIV/AIDS in Gulu District, the Uganda HIV/AIDS report 2007 puts the northern region to have the second highest prevalence rate in the country at 8.2 %, compared to the national average of 6.5 percent.
Ms. Odongpiny and her grandchildren are not yet on the life prolonging ARVs, but have been put on spetrin prophylaxis to prevent opportunistic infections.
Heatlh Alert, an organization that is undertaking preventative programs for HIV/AIDS in Amuru and Gulu District, has been assisting the family to access treatment at the health facilities.
According to the project coordinator for Health Alert, Mr Francis Oubutu, the project, with support from Save the Children in Uganda, has been supporting children with HIV/AIDS and their caretakers by making followup visits to their homes.
Mr Obutu said, for the most vulnerable people like Ms. Odongpiny, Health Alert has come to provide some basic requirements like sugar, soap, and milk for mothers who are on the prevention of mother to child transmission program.
Ms Odongpiny’s granddaughter is one of those HIV positive young mothers enrolled with Health Alert to not only cope with HIV/AIDS pregnancy, but also access information on how to prevent mother to child transmission.
But Ms. Ondonpiny’s despair is not only where she will get her next meal, she also worries about her grandchildren’s education. As she reflects on her life, Ms. Odongpiny says the worst consequence of the epidemic for her is not the death it has come with, but the helpless orphans that are being left behind.
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