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Kenya

Women fight aids in style

In a country where NGOs dealing with AIDS are male dominated, a local women's organisation is doing a commendable job after initiating programmes that tackle AIDS from all aspects- education, prevention, counselling and home-based care.

Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya (WOFAK) was founded in August 1993 by a group of women, most of whom were HIV positive. This was in reaction to the rejection, discrimination and stigmatisation that they faced after being infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. And taking cognisance of women's vulnerability in so far as HIV infection is concerned, WOFAK decided to target women.

AIDS was first diagnosed in Kenya in 1984 and to date 1.5 million Kenyans have already succumbed to the scourge. Another 2.5 million Kenyans are now living with HIV - the virus that causes AIDS- and 55 percent of this number are women. Studies conducted both locally and overseas have shown that women have a higher chance of contracting the virus from a sexual encounter owing to the nature of the female anatomy, which is more prone to lacerations during sexual intercourse.

Matters are made worse by the culturally ingrained practices - such as female genital mutilation (FGM), early marriage and widow inheritance - which have put women at a higher risk. It is against this background that WOFAK lined up broad objectives, which would prolong the lives of women living with HIV/AIDS, and prevent young girls from getting infected.

WOFAK has designed several information and education programmes so that those who are not yet infected can protect themselves from infection while those already infected can avoid re-infection, seek early treatment for opportunistic infections, make appropriate decisions on their reproductive roles and access good nutrition.

A major breakthrough was the opening of a drop in-centre at Nairobi's Kayole Estate to serve women living with HIV/AIDS and their dependants. "Our programmes have always focused on bringing together women who are HIV positive to share their experiences and mutual support", says Mrs. Eunice Odongo, the home-based care co-ordinator.

WOFAK has also initiated an advocacy programme to give women a forum and a voice to articulate their needs. Counselling, education and awareness creation, outreach programmes to schools, factories and military barracks, home-based care, advocacy for the rights of women with HIV/AIDS are some of the activities run by the centre.

According to the programme adviser Mrs. Dorothy Odhiambo, WOFAK has made an impact in its geographic area of operation, which includes the city centre, Kayole Estate and Homa-bay District in Nyanza province. Membership has risen from 7 in 1999 to 350 at present. An element of behaviour change has been registered, with former Commercial Sex Workers abandoning their trade for the WOFAK - initiated income generation activities. Realising that poverty contributes a great deal to the spread of AIDS, the women have empowered themselves economically by establishing a merry-go-round system from where they borrow interest - free loans. With these loans, a number of HIV positive women have managed to set up small businesses. At Kayole, a feeding programme has also been initiated for AIDS orphans whose school fees is also paid by WOFAK.

A striking achievement, which has earned WOFAK a lot of fame and recognition, is its drop-in centre at Kayole, which provides unparalleled home-care services throughout the republic. The clinic is mainly famous for the provision of herbal medicine, which, though cheaper, has been successful in the management of opportunistic infections. "When, in 1999 we discovered that herbal medicine can successfully manage opportunistic infections, we decided to incorporate traditional healers into our programme", says Mrs. Odongo.

Herself a person living with HIV/AIDS (PWA) Mrs. Odongo avers: "I would be dead by now if it were not for the herbal medicine". The herbs used are procured from traditional healers from Mombasa, Homa-Bay and Siaya District. They are first analysed at the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) before being administered on patients. Although most of the clients come from Kayole and the neighbouring estates of Soweto, Umoja and Dandora, others come from as far a field as Mombasa (more than 500km away) and other parts of the country, having been referred there from public hospitals. The integration of traditional healers is a model replicated from Senegal - one of the countries, which have registered a success story in the use of alternative medicine to combat AIDS.

The organization has also been at the fore-front of championing women's right and is a member of several International Community of Women living with HIV/AIDS, the Global network of people living with HIV/AIDS and the society for Women and AIDS in Africa (SWAA) - whose secretary is Mrs. Odhiambo.

Due to the organization's commitment and considering that it is the only NGO that has adopted a holistic approach to fight Aids, it has earned a distinction for being the only AIDS NGO that is represented at the National Aids Control Council (NACC). Mrs. Onyango was recently awarded a presidential commendation - Order of the Grand Warrior (OGW) by president Daniel Arap Moi for her organization's struggle to combat AIDS.

However, everything has not been a bed of roses for WOFAK. Finance has been a major constraint. Although the Ford Foundation and the Global Fund for Women provide funding to the project, the budgetary allocations are barely sufficient to cover all project areas, forcing the organization to at times source for local funding.

Internal squabbles have also threatened to tear the organization apart, with some staffers writing very damaging reports to donors. Like any other NGO, WOFAK has had to contend with cutthroat competition in order to remain on the donor's funding list. Members still continue to bear the brunt of stigmatisation on some people slum them on realising that some of them are HIV positive.

A few constraints notwithstanding, WOFAK'S programmes are a living testimony to the vital role women can play in keeping HIV/AIDS at bay and providing support to both infected and affected. For a long time, men dominated the scene as far as the war on Aids is concerned but now, the tables are being turned.

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