“I delivered on my own because I didn’t have money to give to the midwife. I had no one to come to my rescue apart from by passers. What disappointed me is that my baby contracted HIV in the process. This situation would be different if money wasn’t being grabbed by corrupt people in government” [a woman living with HIV from Bwaise].
In Uganda the impact of corruption on women living with HIV ranges from lack of access to healthcare services, denial of services by healthcare providers and sometimes death of a mother or baby or even both.
Poor management in the health sector means that women living with HIV barely benefit from programs like prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT). Donor funds like the Global Fund end up in hands of a few individuals making it difficult for people at the grassroots to benefit. As a result, Uganda registers over 20,000 HIV cases among newborn babies every year.
The International Community of Women Living with HIV spent a better part of 2012 making telephone calls to Wakiso District Health Officer, Uganda Medical Stores and the Ministry of Health reporting the Tuberculosis drug stock outs in Wakiso District. A stock out happens when there is inadequate or no drugs in healthcare centers. Stock out of essential drugs for HIV and Tuberculosis is common in most of the public healthcare facilities. Some of the patients end up getting either half of their doses or nothing – making their bodies weaker and more resistant to TB drugs.
Out of the 16 women who die due to maternal complication in Uganda every day, 4 are due to AIDS related illnesses (CAPRISA 2009). Therefore limited access to maternal health services makes women living with HIV at risk of dying during pregnancy.
Dozens of women living with HIV are denied healthcare services everyday because they cannot provide “kintu kiddogo” translated as something small. Majority of the people in need of the lifesaving drugs (ARVs) are HIV positive women waiting to either die or praying that one who is already on treatment dies to enable them get on the list.
Many officials who have embezzled healthcare funds have neither been tried nor prosecuted and yet women living with HIV continue to suffer in silence.
Does one person have to die for another to access drugs?
