03/03/2013
Kate* is a 30 year old mother of an 8
month baby, she is HIV+ but does not know how she contracted it. Her baby’s
father left her during her pregnancy to go back to his former wife and child.
Both of them were HIV+ when they met. Kate is participating in a PMTCT
(Preventing Mother To Child Transfer) programme, she is receiving special
medication to enable her to breast feed her baby with a reduced risk of her
transferring HIV. Her CD4 count has reduced significantly during pregnancy, she
will have to stop breast feeding when the baby is 1 year old and return to her
regular ART medication.
She lives in her family home, although
both her parents have died from HIV, she has 2 remaining brothers, aged 19 and
20 who also live with her. They all support each other, and receive aid from
OSSA frequently.
OSSA provide financial support to
cover their rent, food, medical bills, clothing and more for the 4 of them.
Some time ago she also received a sum of money which she used to buy two goats;
she is breading them and selling the kids to earn income.
From visiting Kate I could see that
she is certainly benefiting from OSSA, considerably more than many of the other
people I have met– it makes me wonder why there is no balance between the
supports provided to each of the beneficiaries.
Kx
*names have been changed to protect
identity
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