I don't want to hide: A woman’s fight for people with HIV/AIDS in the Republic of Congo
Maman Sylvie, who lives in Brazzaville (Republic of Congo), believes that being diagnosed as HIV positive should not be the equivalent of a death sentence, and has dedicated her life to helping people with HIV in the Republic of Congo.
For Sylvie, 47 years old, the fight is personal, because she herself has been living with HIV for 15 years.
“I was pregnant at the time, and went to the hospital for an antenatal consultation,” she says. “There were 22 women there, but I was one of only two who agreed to be tested for HIV.”
The result came as a severe shock to Sylvie: “When I got the result, my life stopped, my whole body was shaking.” Sylvie now had to learn to live with HIV, which many believed was tantamount to a death sentence. “A relative had already started making arrangements for my funeral, but I knew I would survive,” says Sylvie. “It took a while, but I came to terms with the illness and understood that with some discipline, I could continue to live.”
Because of stigma against people living with HIV, Sylvie kept her condition a secret for many years. “In the end, the disease does less than the stigma,” says Sylvie. “Many associate the disease with prostitution, which is false.”
More than 40 years after the AIDS epidemic began, significant HIV-related, stigma and discrimination persist, according to a new report released on 30 November by the International Labour Organization and the opinion poll company, Gallup International, ahead of World Aids Day.
Despite some improvement in people’s tolerance to the disease, a survey of 55,000 people in 50 countries found that only one in two people knew that HIV cannot be transmitted by sharing a bathroom.
Sylvie decided to help people in the same situation as herself. Formerly a dumpling vendor, she started campaigning for the rights of people living with HIV and AIDS and now works as a counsellor in a centre that supports people infected and affected by HIV and AIDS.
As a community mediator, working for an NGO supported by a grant from the Global Fund to Fight HIV, Ttuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund), Sylvie assists with patient guidance and support. Community mediators also try to stop patients interrupting treatment, as this can lead to resistance to antiretroviral medicines (ARVs), or the failure of treatment.
"I use my own story to explain to people that you can be HIV positive and stay alive,” says Sylvie.
During last year’s lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching people living with HIV became more difficult.
“We organized ourselves to make the treatment available during this time,” says Sylvie. “Travel was reduced during this period, so we went to visit the sick. We wanted to avoid at all costs the interruption of treatment with potentially fatal consequences”. In February of this year, the United Nations Development Programme in the Republic of the Congo received from the Global Fund more than US$ 30 million as part of a 2021-2023 grant to the Congo to support the strengthening of the national response to HIV and tuberculosis.
This funding aims to strengthen access to prevention and treatment services for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria and to create resilient and sustainable systems for health. A specific goal is to significantly increase the number of people accessing life-saving antiretroviral treatment for HIV, with a particular emphasis on pregnant women.
“Many people have lost their jobs due to the pandemic and slipped into poverty Children have been abandoned by their families after the death of their parents. The food kits distributed by UNDP are very essential for those who can no longer afford to eat properly.” says Sylvie.
"I am confident that in the last decade significant efforts have been made. We are alive because these efforts are continuing. Feeling considered by the state is psychologically reassuring. The struggle continues , and as far as I am concerned, I don't want to hide.”
The new Global Fund grants, which amount to more than US$ 64 million, almost double the amount allocated for the previous three-year cycle, will cover the period 2021-2023. In close partnership with the Ministry of Health, UNDP will implement the HIV and TB grant, and Catholic Relief Services will implement the malaria grant.
In the Republic of Congo, a country of five million people, the seroprevalence rate of HIV infection is 4.8% for women aged 15 to 49 years and 1.9% for men belonging to the same age group. Despite the significant progress made in the fight against HIV / AIDS in the last ten years in the Congo, many challenges remain and the country risks not achieving the objectives it has committed itself to in the context of the international efforts to eliminate the HIV by 2030.
Story was originally published on UNDP Congo. Editorial support by Ahmed Ben Lassoued, Development Coordination Office. For more information on the United Nations' work in Congo, please visit Congo.UN.org. To learn more about the results of our work in this area and beyond, please read the UNSDG Chair Report on DCO.
