People with disabilities and HIV/Aids facing challenges

37-year-old Monica Wambui (right) who is deaf and dumb and living with HIV/Aids speaking through an interpreter, Margaret Karanja. Wambui is now a trainer of trainers who reaches out to the deaf and dump. The 2012 National AIDs Control Council (NACC) report does not indicate the HIV/Aids prevalence among PLWDs, an indication that somehow, this group is ignored. However, statistics indicated that 51 per cent of PLWDs in Kenya who were tested between 2011 and 2013 turned out HIV positive. PHOTO/RACHEL KIBUI.

What you need to know:

  • 60-year-old Josephine Leavi has learnt to live with her difficulties taking life as it is.
  • She however started taking anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) as medical experts advised in order to keep healthy and live positively.
  • A year after she started taking the ARVs, Leavi lost her eyesight for reasons she does not know.
  • 37-year-old Monica Wambui sits in her house, struggling with what doctors diagnosed as tuberculosis.
  • Wambui is deaf and dumb.
  • The 2012 National AIDs Control Council (NACC) report does not indicate the HIV/Aids prevalence among PLWDs, an indication that somehow, this group is ignored.
  • And according to NASCOP 89 per cent of PWDs are sexually active.

60-year-old Josephine Leavi has learnt to live with her difficulties taking life as it is.

She looks younger than her real age, her stare cannot be associated with blindness, her smile is infectious and her motherly warmth enviable.

When she tested HIV positive eight years ago, Leavi was determined to keep it a secret especially from her three children.

“I did not want them to have irresponsible sex and risk contacting HIV,” she says.

“Then they would comfort themselves saying they were just like their mother,” she adds.

She however started taking anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) as medical experts advised in order to keep healthy and live positively.

A year after she started taking the ARVs, Leavi lost her eyesight for reasons she does not know, but she suspects it to be a side effect of the drugs.

NO LONGER SECRET

It was at that point that she discovered that she could no longer keep her status a secret.

She needed someone to pass her the ARVs or accompany her to hospital every time she ran out of drugs.

Having to disclose and explain about her HIV status every too often and even to strangers is something Leavi does not like at all.

Yet she finds herself in this situation often.

“Sometime my daughter calls a boda boda to ride me to the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital (PGH).

When we get to the gate, I have to explain to the rider about my condition and request him to guide me,” she says.

Sometimes boda boda operators get shocked when she explains about where she wants to go and why.

Others refuse to guide her and she has to struggle and find her way alone.

She cannot get a guide at the PGH. The government has not employed any, yet she goes alone most of the time as she cannot afford transport for herself and a guide.

60-year-old Josephine Leavi. A year after she started taking the ARVs, Leavi lost her eyesight. PHOTO/RACHEL KIBUI.

At Bondeni slums in the outskirts of Nakuru town, 37-year-old Monica Wambui sits in her house, struggling with what doctors diagnosed as tuberculosis.

Wambui is deaf and dumb.

MOCKED

She had never thought or heard about HIV, she says, until a few years ago when neighbours and friends started mocking her.

“They would say that I had HIV, that I was weak and slim. It felt so bad,” she says, through Margret Wahome, an interpreter.

Determined to make a difference in the lives of other deaf and dump people, Wambui underwent training on HIV/Aids and Gender Based Violence by APHIAplus, a local non- governmental organisation.

She is now a trainer of trainers who reaches out to the deaf and dump.
“I can’t wait to be well and tell more people living with deafness and dumbness about HIV.

They have the right to know but seemingly the government does not care much,” she adds.

She says she hates it whenever she visits a hospital and cannot express herself clearly as there are no interpreters.

Nicholas Ng’eno who was trained by Wambui on HIV prevention refers to her as a best friend.

CONDOM USE

Ng’eno, 33, did not know about HIV prevention until Wambui told him about condom use and the benefits. Like her, he is deaf and dumb.

“The society assumes that we are stupid and do not know about sex and drugs, but deaf and dumb people know even more than the ‘normal’ persons,” says Ng’eno, through an interpreter.

Under a project dubbed ‘Nuru ya Bonde', Aphia Plus has in the recent past trained 40 persons living with disabilities (PLWDs) on HIV.

“It is better when the PLWDs get training from one of their own as they will easily associate with the message and the trainers as well,” said Caleb Osano, an officer from APHIAplus.

Nuru ya Bonde is a project that aims at promoting increased access to quality protective services to survivors of sexual assault as part of a comprehensive approach to tackling sexual and gender-based violence.

It targets PLWDs and currently operates in Nakuru, Baringo, Laikipia, Narok and Nandi counties.

The 2012 National AIDs Control Council (NACC) report does not indicate the HIV/Aids prevalence among PLWDs, an indication that somehow, this group is ignored.

Efforts to get this information from other organisations such as National Aids and STI Control Program (NASCOP) and LVCT were in futile.

Seemingly, this group is not accounted for as long as HIV-related issues are concerned.

PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

However, statistics provided by APHIAplus on PLWDs tested in Kisumu and Nairobi between 2011 and 2013 indicated that 51 per cent of PLWDs who were tested turned out HIV positive.

The report states that an individual is vulnerable to HIV when his ability to avoid infection is diminished by factors such as lack of knowledge.

Globally, 650 million people are estimated to be living with disabilities.

Developing countries account for 80 per cent of this population.

According to Kenya’s 2009 population census, 1.4 million people are living with disabilities in the country.

And according to NASCOP 89 per cent of PWDs are sexually active.

However, only 39 per cent of this population was married or cohabiting with their sexual partners.

NACC classifies PLWDs as one of the vulnerable groups as fat as contracting HIV/Aids is concerned.

NACC official Ms Lilian Langat said the organisation had plans to produce information materials such as braille and audio formats in a bid to reach the PLWDs with HIV/Aids education.