Helping Uganda’s HIV positive Women Avoid Unplanned Pregnancies

Contraception is a smart choice but HIV positive women have to jump through the hooks to get it. Credit: Amy Fallon/IPSBy Amy FallonKAMPALA, Aug 18 2014 (IPS) Barbara Kemigisa used to call herself an “HIV/AIDS campaigner”. These days she would rather be known as an “HIV/AIDS family planning campaigner”. “We need to reduce unplanned pregnancies and the HIV infection rate in our country,” Kemigisa told IPS during Uganda’s first national family planning conference on July 28. “It’s about dual protection.” Raped by two uncles from an early age, Kemigisa later became promiscuous. When she was 22, she discovered she was HIV positive – and two months pregnant. Her daughter, Kourtney, now five, was born negative. But the mother couldn’t afford to buy her formula milk and, when she was just six-months-old, the baby tested positive, through breastfeeding.Fast Facts About HIV AND Women in Uganda 2013 36.3m population 58 life expectancy 7.2% HIV prevalence 780,000 women living with HIV 6 total fertility rate 30% modern contraceptive use 57% births with skilled attendant Source: UNICEF Kemigisa, an informed activist who gets her ARVs the Infectious Diseases Institute at Mulago Hospital and works with KiBO Foundation in Kampala,never had any problem obtaining contraceptives. The same can’t be said for many young HIV positive women Kemigisa regularly meets. “Health workers tell them ‘you’re positive, you’re not supposed to be having child...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Africa Aid Countdown to ZERO Development & Aid Featured Gender Headlines Health Poverty & MDGs Projects Regional Categories Women's Health Contraception Family Planning Uganda United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Source Type: news