Physical Health Mali Project #4874

Nutrition and peer support for HIV+ patients

by GAIA Vaccine Foundation

Nutrition and peer support for HIV+ patients

Project Report | Apr 3, 2015
An Association is born!

By Eliza Squibb | Executive Director

New cooking supplies

Mali is ranked as the last country (86 of 86) of all examined in the 2012 Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI), following Sudan, DRC, Yemen, and Somalia. The SIGI measures gender inequality by looking at discriminatory social institutions, such as violence against women, restricted access to public space, and restricted access to land and credit. Additionally, widowed women in Mali are the most vulnerable in relation to food insecurity.

This disheartening statistic on inequality is even more serious in the case of HIV+ women who constitute a sector of the population that is even more vulnerable. 32% of our patients are widowed and have six children on average. Although GAIA supports a portion of their medical costs, they possess few resources to support their children, and in the worst cases, they have been rejected by their extended families due to stigma surrounding their HIV status. Stigma remains a huge problem in Mali; due to grave social repercussions following a seropositive diagnosis, many are reluctant to get tested or pursue treatment. While social groups for women throughout the neighborhood exist, the HIV+ women are often excluded from these activities. As a result of extreme poverty, it is far likelier that the child of an HIV+ parent will drop out of school to get married (in the case of a girl) or work to support the family (in the case of a boy).

Through GAIA’s MTCTP program, we have ensured that the children of our patients are HIV free. Now, we need to safeguard their fragile futures by helping their mothers create a better life for the whole family. In the words of Koumba, a member of the group, “I don’t have means but with the little bit of resources that I find I feed my children. My five children don’t have the disease so I do everything I can so that they stay healthy”. When HIV+ patients were interviewed, they specifically requested a microfinance project. In the words of Ramata, “The most important thing that I want is to sell merchandise so I can earn money to feed my children”.

As a result of GAIA’s 10-year effort to create unifying programs, the HIV+ patients at our clinic have formed an association that has recently gained legal standing. Their goal is to promote knowledge and awareness about HIV/AIDS in Mali and to reduce stigma for those living with HIV/AIDS.

We are eager to support them for this great cause. In addition to continuing our Nutritional support program, we want to help the HIV+ mothers expand their association to include more members and more activities.

With your help, we can work towards stability and food security for HIV patients and their families. Please join us in supporting this fledgling association.

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Dec 2, 2014
Words from the field

By Eliza Squibb | Executive Director

Oct 14, 2014
A little bit goes a long way

By Eliza Squibb | Executive Director

New Cooking supplies!

Our conditions are not ideal: the only space for the cooking activities is in the crowded courtyard of our Hope Center Clinic, between the maternity ward and the consultation rooms. Our patients however, are eager to make do with whatever they have. Rain or shine, they cook the weekly meal for all the HIV patients and their children.

These women have overcome so much living in a society that is still learning to treat HIV+ people with dignity. As Socrates, our peer educator explained,

Stigma is real. I can tell you that today things are a tiny bit better, but it's not eliminated. Before, when someone tested postitve, they were automatically abandoned by their family, fired from their jobs, and rejected by the community because of their positive status. The stress of that will kill a person. It's not the disease that will kill them.

The women at our clinic had have access to epathetic caregivers and as much pychosocial support as we could provide. It is clear from their testimonies that they have broken through many boundaries imposed by stigma, even if they lost husbands or children along the way. As "Mama" explains using that particular gift of diction that Malians possess,

With my close family I don't have any problems; my father, my mother, my brothers and sisters; they all support me with my HIV status. People around me, however, talk about me behind my back. I don't care though, because this isn't something that I took my money and bought at the market place, this is part of God's plan for me.

Our HIV+ patients are strong and self-reliant, and they have goals for their own lives and big dreams for their children, yet their every day lives are full the of immediate challenges of trying to care for their families with the little that they have.

With only $200, GAIA Vaccine Foundation purchased new cooking supplies for the group; shiny pots and pans and new plates to accomodate the group's increasing numbers. We set up a tin roof to protect the cooks and their children from the sun and the rain.

With a mere $75 per week, we have now increased the cooking activity from once weekly to twice weekly: Wednesdays and Fridays.

These are small improvements that can be accomoplished with very small funds. There is so much more that we need to do, but as a small foundation, we are doing the best we can with the little that we have.

With your support, our patients are now happily cooking with their new pots. Please consider giving a donation that would futher increase our capacity to provide nutritional support.

Many thanks from everyone at the Hope Center Clinic!

New tin roof!

Links:

Our website

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