Women living with HIV cry for help

Women living with HIV in the Brong-Ahafo region have observed that the poor state of the economy, neglect and lack of support from family members and the community as well as lack of appetite due to state of their health and even drug reactions are major contributory factors to the high occurrence of malnutrition in people living with HIV.

The women have therefore called on government institutions, NGOs, religious organisations championing the fight against stigmatization to empower people living with HIV with jobs. They suggested the establishment of micro credit facilities for HIV patients to enable them have access to credit to start their own small-scale businesses in order to generate income to support their families.

The spokesperson for the women, Christiana Boateng made the suggestion at a Dialogue meeting with 30 selected women living with HIV in the Brong-Ahafo region at Abesim.

The meeting was organised by the International Federation of Women Lawyers popularly called FIDA Ghana under its Increasing Access to Property and Inheritance Rights of Women Living with HIV and AIDS project with funding from UN Women.

The overall objective of the project is to address the structural inequalities that make it difficult for HIV positive women to access their property and inheritance rights.The participants were taken through topics such as “Fighting Self Stigma”, and “Appropriate Institutions to Seek Legal Redress” among others

Miss Boateng complained that to date the societies, culture and religions have not learned to accept people living with HIV and show love care and support to them, adding that “we have immigration laws and policies restraining the movement of people living with HIV/AIDS”.

She called for laws that respect and protect people living with HIV/AIDS in places of employment, schools and immigration.

The Project Assistant of FIDA-Ghana, Ms Benedicta Laryea, noted that loss of shelter and livelihoods experienced by women living with HIV and AIDS could push them into an eddy of destitution and marginalization, intensified vulnerability to HIV and AIDS, while enhancing intergenerational poverty.

Ms. Laryea said FIDA-Ghana recognised that a mixture of several forces such as patriarchal attitudes, biased gender norms, and unequal power relations fuelled property-related conflicts.