Stories

Antonio Junior Xiranza is 12 years old. He lives with his Aunt Talita Agosto Mujovo, 39, and her three children in Maputo, Mozambique, after his parents both died from HIV-related illnesses. Antonio is HIV positive, something that Talita was able to reveal to him over the course of nine counselling sessions through IPPF Member Association AMODEFA’s Ntyiso programme. When Antonio was sent to Talita in 2015 he had no understanding of his illness. He was severely underweight and wouldn’t take his medication. “I didn’t think he was going to make it,” says Talita. But following AMODEFA’s intervention last year Antonio’s health has improved rapidly and is gaining weight. This is in large part because Antonio, though still young, has chosen to take on the responsibility for managing his illness himself.  “He takes his medication without being told”, says Talita. “If he’s injured he knows the other children can’t touch his wound.” Antonio is still small for his age but says he feels stronger. He is well enough now to attend school regularly and is already thinking about the future; when he grows up he wants to be a fireman.“I am happy about life here,” he says, shyly. Talita says she is “relieved” to see these changes in Antonio. “At first I was not going to say anything. I would have waited until he was 18 to tell him,” Talita says, which would have continued to put pressure on the entire family. “But with the help of the counselling I had through Ntyiso I was able to tell him now.” While Ntyiso was intended to help parents speak more openly about HIV with their children, it has given Talita the confidence to discuss the illness more widely. “I was able to tell my father, who was sick and had a wound, that he should get tested for HIV,” she says. Her father was diagnosed positive and is now in treatment. “Before I wouldn’t have advised people to take the test, I would have just kept quiet,” she says. Read more about AMODEFA's tireless work in Mozambique

Albertina Machaieie has been working with HIV patients for Amodefa for 38 years and is their longest serving nurse. “I’m going to work forever,” she says. “I like helping people, that’s why I do this job.” Albertina heads up Amodefa’s home care programme which provides medical, nutritional and emotional support to HIV positive patients living in the poorest suburbs of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. She has seen a dramatic change in attitudes to HIV in the 19 years she has been running the service. In the past she had to hide her car and would visit her patients anonymously. “People feared HIV so they feared me coming to them,” she says.Now people welcome her into the community as a friend and will direct new patients to her. “They call us ‘Muhanyisse’”, which means saviour in the local language Shangaan, she says. Albertina and another nurse work with a large team of volunteers, or ‘activistas’, most of whom are also HIV positive. As well as delivering medication and food to patients and performing health examinations, an important part of Amodefa’s work is continuing to change attitudes towards HIV. “The homecare project encompasses everything,” she says. “It’s not just treatment for illness, we also work with the mind – people need to change their mindset.” She and the activistas give lectures in the community to raise awareness of HIV, and also offer counselling to patients, many of whom find it difficult to accept their HIV positive status. “Husbands and wives stop understanding each other when one is living in denial of HIV,” says Albertina. “They blame the illness on witchcraft.” In other cases, those carrying the virus are scared to tell their families for fear of being rejected. “There are many stories of family members, particularly of wives, who have found they are HIV positive and partners have threatened to leave,” she says. “But when Amodefa has stepped in and advocated, the husband has stayed.” This holistic approach to its homecare has been so effective that medical and psychology students have come from Brazil, the US and Mexico to Mozambique to study the programme and to learn from Albertina’s experience. “I am the library for Amodefa,” she jokes. Over the course of her career Albertina has worked with many challenging cases – particularly men. “Women are more open to treatment because they want to get better so they can care for their children,” she says, “but men often won’t seek help until their health has severely deteriorated.” She recalls one case where a woman tested positive for HIV while she was pregnant. She told her husband to get tested but he refused, and he also prevented his wife from taking any treatment. As a result her baby was born HIV positive - as were her second and third born. “With her last child she started taking the treatment without her husband’s knowledge and the baby was born without HIV,” says Albertina. “This man now says, ‘People, you need to be open – I have three positive children and it is my fault because I would not accept the truth.’” “Children who are HIV positive and don’t know often abandon their medication because they are tired of taking the drugs,” says Albertina. “Ntyiso teaches the importance of taking the medicine. When they are aware of their status, they start taking the medicine normally.” Albertina worked with ten families during the pilot phase of the programme. “Already I have seen great changes in the children, it shows why this project of revelation is so important.” The Ntiyso is a pilot project implemented in Maputo City and it has its focus on disclosure of the HIV + status to adolescents. It targets mothers, parents and caregivers of adolescents. The main activities are: Education and training of Mothers, Parents and caregivers of adolescents to reveal HIV+ status to their adolescents. Due to the Global Gag Rule this project lost its funding and was forced to close.

Palmira Enoque Tembe, 54, is HIV positive She lives with two sons, who are also HIV positive, and four grandchildren in a small house in Bairro Feiroviaro on the outskirts of Maputo. Three times a week she is visited by Amodefa volunteers and once a week by a nurse who provide medication, food and therapy to the family. “Amodefa counsels me through the difficulties in life,” Palmira says. Palmira found out she had HIV when her youngest child was nine months old. He was diagnosed as HIV positive. Palmira asked her husband to get tested too,“He refused” says Palmira. “He said I was possessed by evil spirits and was trying to kill him and my son". Her husband abandoned the family and Palmira was left to battle the illness and raise the children on her own. “I was terrified. I lost hope. I didn’t want to do anything, just sit in my room and cry,” she says. Now, however, the nutritious food, medication and regular medical check-ups she receives as part of the homecare programme have given her a new lease on life. “I’m fine and I am making plans for the future. I know now to get ill is not to die,” says Palmira, who has started to subsistence farm again. At first she was wary of the service. “It seemed like an advertisement for having HIV and I didn’t want my neighbours to isolate me,” she says. “But now I depend on it.” It was through Amodefa’s new pilot counselling project, ‘Ntyiso’ - which translates as ‘The Truth’ in the local language, Shangaan - Palmira was finally able to open up to her son that he had HIV too. While he had always suspected he was carrying the virus, he needed to hear it from his mother for it to become real.“It has changed by life,” she says. “It has improved our relationship because I no longer feel ashamed.” The Ntiyso is a pilot project implemented in Maputo City and it has its focus on disclosure of the HIV + status to adolescents. It targets mothers, parents and caregivers of adolescents. The main activities are: Education and training of Mothers, Parents and caregivers of adolescents to reveal HIV+ status to their adolescents. Due to the Global Gag Rule this project lost its funding and was forced to close. Read more about AMODEFA's tireless work in Mozambique

Milan Khadka was just ten years old when he lost both his parents to HIV. “When I lost my parents, I used to feel so alone, like I didn’t have anyone in the world,” he says. “Whenever I saw other children getting love from others, I used to feel that I also might get that kind of love if I hadn’t lost my parents.” Like thousands of Nepali children, Milan’s parents left Nepal for India in search of work. Milan grew up in India until he was ten, when his mother died of AIDS-related causes. The family then returned to Nepal, but just eight months later, his father also died, and Milan was left in the care of his grandmother. “After I lost my parents, I went for VCT [voluntary counselling and testing] to check if I had HIV in my body,” Milan says. “After I was diagnosed as HIV positive, slowly all the people in the area found out about my status and there was so much discrimination. My friends at school didn’t want to sit with me and they humiliated and bullied me,” he says. “At home, I had a separate sleeping area and sleeping materials, separate dishes and a separate comb for my hair. I had to sleep alone.” Things began to improve for Milan when he met a local woman called Lakshmi Kunwar. After discovering she was HIV-positive, Lakshmi had dedicated her life to helping people living with HIV in Palpa, working as a community home-based care mobiliser for the Family Planning Association of Nepal (FPAN) and other organisations. Struck by the plight of this small, orphaned boy, Lakshmi spoke to Milan’s family and teachers, who in turn spoke to his school mates. “After she spoke to my teachers, they started to support me,” Milan says. “And after getting information about HIV, my school friends started to like me and share things with me. And they said: ‘Milan has no one in this world, so we are the ones who must be with him. Who knows that what happened to him might not happen to us?” Lakshmi mentored him through school and college, encouraging him in his schoolwork. “Lakshmi is more than my mother,” he says. “My mother only gave birth to me but Lakshmi has looked after me all this time. Even if my mother was alive today, she might not do all the things for me that Lakshmi has done.” Milan went on to become a grade A student, regularly coming top of his class and leaving school with flying colours. Today, twenty-one-year-old Milan lives a busy and fulfilling life, juggling his college studies, his work as a community home-based care (CHBC) mobiliser for FPAN and a burgeoning music career. When not studying for a Bachelor’s of education at university in Tansen, he works as a CHBC mobiliser for FPAN, visiting villages in the area to raise awareness about how to prevent and treat HIV, and to distribute contraception. He also offers support to children living with HIV, explaining to them how he lost his parents and faced discrimination but now leads a happy and successful life. “There are 40 children in this area living with HIV,” he says. “I talk to them, collect information from them and help them get the support they need. And I tell them: ‘If I had given up at that time, I would not be like this now. So you also shouldn’t give up, and you have to live your life.” Watch Milan's story below:      

  Few people are at higher risk of HIV infection or STIs than sex workers. Although sex work is illegal in Thailand, like in so many countries many turn a blind eye. JiHye Hong is a volunteer with PPAT, the Planned Parenthood Association of Thailand, and she works with the HIV and STIs prevention team in and around Bangkok. One month into her volunteer project, she has already been out on 17 visits to women who work in high risk entertainment centres. “They can be a target group,” explains JiHye. “Some of them can’t speak Thai, and they don’t have Thai ID cards. They are young.” The HIV and STIs prevention team is part of PPAT’s Sexual and Reproductive Health department in Bangkok. It works with many partners in the city, including secondary schools and MSM (men who have sex with men) groups, as well as the owners of entertainment businesses. They go out to them on door-to-door visits. “We visit them in their real lives, because they may not have time to go to clinics to check their status,” says JiHye. “Usually we spend about an hour for educational sessions, and then we do activities together to check if they’ve understood. It’s the part we can all do together and enjoy.” The team JiHye works with takes a large picture book with them on their visits, one full of descriptions of symptoms and signs of STIs, including graphic images that show real cases of the results of HIV/AIDs and STIs. It’s a very clear way of make sure everyone understands the impact of STIs. Reaction to page titles and pictures which include “Syphilis” “Gonorrhoea” “Genital Herpes” and “Vaginal Candidiasis” are what you might expect. “They are often quite shocked, especially young people. They ask a lot of questions and share concerns,” says JiHye. The books and leaflets used by the PPAT team don’t just shock though. They also explain issues such as sexuality and sexual orientations too, to raise awareness and help those taking part in a session understand about diversity and equality. After the education sessions, tests are offered for HIV and/or Syphilis on the spot to anyone who wants one. For Thai nationals, up to two HIV tests a year are free, funded by the Thai Government. An HIV test after that is 140 Thai Baht or about four US Dollars. A test for Syphilis costs 50 Bhat. “An HIV rapid test takes less than 30 minutes to produce a result which is about 99% accurate,” says JiHye. The nurse will also take blood samples back to the lab for even more accurate testing, which takes two to three days.” At the same time, the groups are also given advice on how it use condoms correctly, with a model penis for demonstration, and small PPAT gift bags are handed out, containing condoms, a card with the phone numbers for PPATs clinics and a small carry case JiHye, who is from South Korea originally, is a graduate in public health at Tulane University, New Orleans. That inspired her to volunteer for work with PPAT. “I’ve really learned that people around the world are the same and equal, and a right to access to health services should be universal for all, regardless of ages, gender, sexual orientations, nationality, religions, and jobs.”

“Family Planning Association of Nepal is playing a crucial role in protecting the rights of female sex workers in the whole of Nepal” says Jamuna Sitvla, senior programme officer at Family Planning Association of Nepal (FPAN). There are around 40,000 sex workers in Nepal. Around 1,300 are infected with HIV. FPAN is working to increase awareness among sex workers to practice safe sex and to use condoms to protect from HIV. "One challenge is that when female sex workers carry condoms, if the police find the condoms, they criminalise the women. Some of the sex workers have been organised via different organisations in order to protect their rights. Now the Supreme Court has given an a ruling that policemen have to ensure the sexual rights of female sex workers have to be addressed. This decision includes that women can carry condoms: that is their right. The second decision is that sex workers have the right to organise. Some sex workers are afraid of asking heir clients to wear condoms and this increases their risk of contracting HIV but the more confident sex workers are ensuring that their clients wear condoms". "In 2017 there was a huge conference held at FPAN, with sex workers invited as panelists. People had the opportunity to understand the problems they were facing. One of FPAN’s great successes was to invite the criminal department of police, policy makers and sex workers to come under one roof. We gathered them in the FPAN venue and they made a commitment that from now on the female sex workers will be treated with respect, with dignity, will not be criminalised."   Stories Read more stories about our work with people living with HIV

Lakshmi Kunwar married young, at the age of 17. Shortly afterwards, Lakshmi’s husband, who worked as a migrant labourer in India, was diagnosed with HIV and died. “At that time, I was completely unaware of HIV,” Lakshmi says. “My husband had information that if someone is diagnosed with HIV, they will die very soon. So after he was diagnosed, he didn’t eat anything and he became very ill and after six months he died. He gave up.” Lakshmi contracted HIV too, and the early years of living with it were arduous. “It was a huge burden,” she says. “I didn’t want to eat anything so I ate very little. My weight at the time was 44 kilograms. I had different infections in my skin and allergies in her body. It was really a difficult time for me. … I was just waiting for my death. I got support from my home and in-laws but my neighbours started to discriminate against me – like they said HIV may transfer via different insects and parasites like lice.” Dedicating her life to help others Lakshmi’s life began to improve when she came across an organisation in Palpa that offered support to people living with HIV (PLHIV). “They told me that there is medicine for PLHIV which will prolong our lives,” she explains. “They took me to Kathmandu, where I got training and information on HIV and I started taking ARVs [antiretroviral drugs].” In Kathmandu Lakshmi decided that she would dedicate the rest of her life to supporting people living with HIV. “I made a plan that I would come back home [to Palpa], disclose my status and then do social work with other people living with HIV, so that they too may have hope to live. I said to myself: I will live and I will let others living with HIV live”. Stories Read more stories about our work with people living with HIV

“When I was 14, I was trafficked to India,” says 35-year-old Lakshmi Lama. “I was made unconscious and was taken to Mumbai. When I woke up, I didn’t even know that I had been trafficked, I didn’t know where I was.” Every year, thousands of Nepali women and girls are trafficked to India, some lured with the promise of domestic work only to find themselves in brothels or working as sex slaves. The visa-free border with India means the actual number of women and girls trafficked from Nepal is likely to be much higher. The earthquake of April 2015 also led to a surge in trafficking: women and girls living in tents or temporary housing, and young orphaned children were particularly vulnerable to traffickers. “I was in Mumbai for three years,” says Lakshmi. “Then I managed to send letters and photographs to my parents and eventually they came to Mumbai and helped rescue me from that place". During her time in India, Lakshmi contracted HIV. Life after her diagnosis was tough, Lakshmi explains. “When I was diagnosed with HIV, people used to discriminate saying, “you’ve got HIV and it might transfer to us so don’t come to our home, don’t touch us,’” she says. “It’s very challenging for people living with HIV in Nepal. People really suffer.” Today, Lakshmi lives in Banepa, a busy town around 25 kilometres east of Kathmandu. Things began to improve for her, she says, when she started attending HIV awareness classes run by Family Planning Association of Nepal (FPAN). Eventually she herself trained as an FPAN peer educator, and she now works hard visiting communities in Kavre, raising awareness about HIV prevention and treatment, and bringing people together to tackle stigma around the virus. The government needs to do far more to tackle HIV stigma in Nepal, particularly at village level, Lakshmi says, “Attitudes of younger people to HIV are not changing fast. People still say to me: ‘you have HIV, you may die soon’. There is so much stigma and discrimination in this community.” Stories Read more stories about our work with people living with HIV

"My husband used to work in India, and when he came back, he got ill and died," says Durga Thame. "We didn’t know that he was HIV-positive, but then then later my daughter got sick with typhoid and went to hospital and was diagnosed with HIV and died, and then I was tested and was found positive." Her story is tragic, but one all too familiar for the women living in this region. Men often travel to India in search of work, where they contract HIV and upon their return infect their wives. For Durga, the death of her husband and daughter and her own HIV positive diagnosis threw her into despair.  "My neighbours used to discriminate against me … and I suffered violence at the hands of my community. Everybody used to say that they couldn’t eat whatever I cooked because they might get HIV." Then Durga heard about HIV education classes run by the Palpa branch of the Family Planning Association of Nepal (FPAN), a short bus journey up the road in Tansen, the capital of Palpa.  "At those meetings, I got information about HIV," she says. "When I came back to my village, I began telling my neighbours about HIV. They came to know the facts and they realised it was a myth that HIV could be transferred by sharing food. Then they began treating me well." FPAN ran nutrition, hygiene, sanitation and livelihood classes that helped Durga turn the fortunes of her small homestead around. Durga sells goats and hens, and with these earnings supports her family – her father-in-law and her surviving daughter, who she says has not yet been tested for HIV. "I want to educate my daughter," she says. "I really hope I can provide a better education for her." Stories Read more stories about our work with people living with HIV  

At the end of a long day, Anicia, closes the clinic with praise for her colleagues who never turn anyone away. "We open at 8am. From 8am we will be receiving a variety of clients for different services - whether post-abortion care, whether antenatal care - we have to give them all the services. We may end up to 10pm, because we'll never chase our clients, we'll never close the place when we have a client inside. People come when they have no hope. You receive them, and you give them hope by treating them properly and giving them quality services. The client gets better and will never forget you. And follow them up on the phone. "How are you doing?" It's good for us to know that they're doing well. Others even tell us 'The way you handle us, we love it so much'." Follow a day in the life of our team and clients in Gulu, Uganda 07:00 08:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 22:00 Prev Next 7am: The team prepare for the long day ahead "Every year tens of thousands of Ugandans come to our clinic. Everyone is welcome. Here are just a few of the people that we served in one day last month." READ MORE 8am: Nancy, 19, becomes a volunteer "I was suffering but when I came here, I was treated and I got better. Now I'm inspired to volunteer here" READ MORE 9am: Monica, 25, a sex worker's story "I am sex working. I came here for Hepatitis B testing and also counselling. I have so many personal problems, but here….they’re so caring." READ MORE 10am: Jane, 23, saved by family planning "After multiple miscarriages, family planning here has helped me a lot. I'm glad we've been able to space the number of children we've had. I am not growing old, I am fresh." READ MORE 11am: Vicky, handling disabilities "I'm deaf so accessing services is hard, but here they really try to speak in sign language." READ MORE 12pm: Dorcus, first time patient "This is the first time I've ever come here, I like the service. They give good counselling so I recommend coming." READ MORE 1pm: Christine, 45, a grandmother's tale of living with HIV "I am living with HIV and had HPV. They treated me and now I'm free of cervical cancer." READ MORE 2pm: Lilian, struggling mother of six with sickle cell " I have sickle cell disease and so do all my children. I want to have my tube removed so that I don't get pregnant again but I don't know if my husband will allow it." READ MORE 3pm: Brenda and Francis get fertility treatments "Fertility treatment is a sensitive issue in Uganda but they help us a lot and we get proper treatment." READ MORE 4pm: Joyce, 25, repected regardless of her disability "I realised that at this place they don't segregate. Us people with disabilities have challenges at the main hospitals. You go there, people around look at you as if you are not a human being and you don't fall sick." READ MORE 5pm: Mobile clinic provides outreach services to remote villages "Our outreach to remote communities is a 'one-stop-centre'. We give family planning, vaccines for HPV, malaria, and Hepatitis B, HIV testing and more." READ MORE 22pm: Still giving the last client our very best "Together, we have great teamwork. Sometimes we're still working up to 10pm because we never chase out our clients. We’ll never close the place when we have a client inside. People come when they have no hope." READ MORE