Empowering 500 Rwandan women living with HIV/AIDS

Many people attach heavy stigma to HIV and discriminate against people living with HIV /AIDS. These factors push people with HIV/AIDS, and those at high risk of infection, away from the health care system hence denying them prevention, care, and treatment, including life-saving HIV medicines.

Others are discriminated at work places even to the extent of losing their jobs whereas in the community they face multiple discrimination including isolation from community events and family.

Widows who are HIV/AIDS face a lot of injustices especially with property and land ownership more especially from the in-laws who at times chase them claiming that she might have infected their relative.

Women living with HIV/AIDS may also be deterred from returning to health clinics by the judgemental attitudes of health workers, who violate their confidentiality, treat them with disrespect, deny them services, or push them to access services without providing comprehensive information about alternatives.

Poor quality services, when combined with having to deal with bureaucracy and long queues, and being at the mercy of everyone from the receptionist, to the pharmacist, to the doctors and nurses, means that accessing and adhering to treatment can be an exhausting, humiliating and traumatic process. Without adequate counselling, treatment and morale is hard to maintain.

Majority of the women do not have the confidence to report the injustices committed to them and hence accept the status quo. Others resort to frustrations and resort to behaviours which endanger their lives including not taking their retroviral medicines.

In order to fight injustices committed to Women living with HIV/AIDS we have continued to train women paralegals so as to empower them with legal and advocacy skills which are simplified to know laws against discrimination that can be used to advocate for their rights and those of their peers.  With your continued support we will continue supporting this initiative.

The global Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the existing problems that vulnerable and marginalized people face who include HIV/AIDS positive women.  The continued economic hardships have seriously further affected them.

It is against such background that HRFRA launched an initiative that will provide HIV/AIDS positive women with the business/marketing training, technical skills, and self-confidence necessary to run small businesses and also fundraise for their businesses.

15 women have been trained and have acquired skills to run small business so as to support their livelihoods.

The trainings also empowered the beneficiaries on ways of fighting stigma and discrimination and supporting their peers.

With your continued support we will better the lives of this vulnerable women.

Links:

• http://www.rightsrwanda.com