The International Community of Women Living with HIV Eastern Africa (ICWEA) dialogued with stakeholders including women living with HIV, women living with HIV with disabilities, government leaders, medical practioners, service providers, religious leaders, government and district officials such as the focal personnel in Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission (eMTCT) and HIV&AIDS departments.
The dialogue which was held in an informal setting allowed for an all-inclusive interaction.
It comes after the release of findings of a study titled; “Violation of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of women living with HIV in Clinical and Community setting in Uganda”.
This study was conducted in nine high HIV burden districts in Uganda. It found that women living with HIV experience a wide range of violations in clinical settings, their homes as well as in their communities. One of the most common violations was coerced and/or forced sterilisation.
The findings of the study were shared broadly at national and international levels (hard copies of the entire report were circulated) as well as their implications and a way forward was discussed.
Wakiso was not one of the districts included in the study but because of its proximity to Kampala, a number of the women living with HIV from Wakiso go to Kampala to access the services. It is while there that some experienced sexual reproductive health injustices.
A medic in disbelief said it was not possible that a doctor sterilized a woman living with HIV without consent because it is unethical.
But a testimony by a women living with HIV who had been forcefully coerced quickly silenced her and removed any thinking that the injustice in a myth.
She said, “My husband passed away just before I gave birth to our first child. As I went to the labour ward, I knew that I would go back again after mourning my husband and getting involved with another man. Unknown to me then, that was the last time I would go to labour ward as a patient. After giving birth by caesarian, the doctor took it upon himself to sterilize me. I discovered this a while later when I went for a scan in an attempt to find out why I was not getting pregnant. Years later, it still hurts like I have just found out. I do not know what I would do to the doctor who did this to me if I laid my eyes and hands on him,” she narrated.
While this was news to some women, majority had heard about it and where quick to give suggestions on how to move forward and stop this injustice from happening to other women. The local solutions to stop the injustice in the district are;
Sensitization about this injustice to as many women living with HIV as possible especially those will less access to information .
Education on the correct tubal ligation procedure while emphasising that they need to consent before anything is done to them.
Educating women about their Sexual Reproductive Health Rights and the fact that they can say no when their rights are being violated.
Protest and demonstrate against this injustice to help bring attention to the problem.
Many suggested that just as it is important to stop the injustice from happening again, it is also important to bring those who violated the rights of the women to book by prosecuting them. ICWEA will continue to hold such dialogues in other districts.
Sign a petition to call for an end to these violations: https://www.change.org/p/government-of-uganda-end-forced-and-coerced-sterilization-of-women-living-with-hiv
