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HEALTH-COLOMBIA: Mother Living with HIV - and Activist for Life
By María Isabel García
BOGOTA, Dec 26 (IPS) - Since Elizabeth Torres, a mother of two who lives in
the city of Cali in western Colombia, found out five years ago that she, her
older child and her ex-husband all tested positive for HIV, she has been
working hard to provide assistance for and fight for the rights of women
living with HIV.
Torres, 35, is the regional coordinator of the Red Girasol, the only
organisation in Colombia that assists HIV-positive women.
In her new role as an activist, Torres defends human rights in the field
of health, ''providing advice to help patients obtain social security
coverage and to enroll in health coverage plans when they run into
difficulties, and orienting them on how to take legal action when
necessary,'' she said in an interview with IPS.
People living with HIV in this South American country frequently find it
necessary to go to court to gain access to the specialised health services
and treatment they need.
Torres, who has a vocational-technical degree as a media announcer and is
studying for a degree in social communication, is not only active in the Red
Girasol (''Sunflower Network'').
She also works with another non-governmental organisation, the Foundation
for Human Development and Sexuality, where she provides advice on prevention
and sexual and reproductive health to teenagers.
In addition, she is active in Camino, an institution that runs
rehabilitation programmes for drug addicts.
Torres' involvement with teenagers in Camino and the Foundation is
largely motivated by the fact that she is a mother of a child living with
HIV. ''Having a child with HIV is a great source of grief. For women, the
psychological and psychosocial aspects are more difficult, because we are
mothers,'' she said.
''Those of us who have a child with HIV/AIDS must deal with feelings of
guilt, while we suffer the conflict of not wanting to die, of wanting to
continue to fight,'' she explained.
Since reading reports on the tendency of teenagers living with HIV in the
United States to use drugs, Torres has been preparing herself for the moment
when her HIV-positive son, who is now 10, and his eight-year-old sister,
reach adolescence.
''We women are not only living for ourselves, but for our children, as we
watch them grow and prepare ourselves to guide them through adolescence,
which will be more difficult for them,'' she said.
By nature, ''women are nurturers,'' and while we take care of our
children and our partners, we also have to take care of ourselves, she
added.
In Cali, a city of 2.2 million, there is one woman living with HIV for
every three men, higher than the national ratio. Of the total 6,500 cases
documented in the city, around 1,575 are women, according to official
statistics.
The majority of women testing positive for HIV in Colombia are between
the ages of 15 and 26, and most of them are homemakers, rather than
professionals or working women, said Torres.
According to the governmental National Health Institute, in the 19 years
since the first two cases of HIV/AIDS were detected in Colombia (one man and
one woman), 27,965 cases have been reported, including 4,485 women.
But the numbers are actually much higher. A Health Ministry communique
released in May stated that estimates based on ''under-reporting in
epidemiological notification,'' and statistical projections indicate that
there are perhaps as many as 173,000 cases in this country of 42 million.
The problem requires greater funding to fill the gaps in information and
meet the need for assistance for the patients and their families.
Torres' testimony demonstrates that involvement in an organisation
addressing the specific problems and needs of people living with HIV is an
important step forward.
''It is very gratifying to know that I have many abilities. I have
learned to value myself more as a person and as a woman,'' she said.
But dealing with her HIV-positive status and that of her son while
providing support to others on a daily basis ''takes courage,'' said Torres.
''You have to overcome many obstacles and deal with things like the
sensation of impotence when you see someone doing poorly, and you inevitably
identify with them.''
Discouragement is also a problem, especially ''when you see there are no
funds and no political will'' to confront the AIDS epidemic, ''and that the
struggle to gain access to services and obtain respect for our right to
health care is infinite.
''There are also very frustrating moments, like when a court verdict is
finally handed down,'' granting a patient access to the antiretroviral drugs
needed to delay the onset of full-blown AIDS, ''but the person has already
died.
''Since there are so many fears surrounding HIV/AIDS, the most effective
thing is unity among all of us who live with the disease,'' said Torres.
But she also underlined that prevention campaigns and assistance must
focus on the specific characteristics and needs of each sector of the
population.
The majority of prevention programmes and clinical studies focus mainly
on men, she said. ''Homosexuals have their own specific problems,'' while
most heterosexual men living with HIV ''are not organised, and they tend to
share the Latin American 'machista' tendency of drinking and sleeping with a
lot of women,'' said the activist.
''With respect to HIV-positive women, we are more exposed, because...we
don't demand safe sex, nor do we practice it ourselves,'' she added. Married
women tend to be reluctant to demand that their husbands use condoms,
despite the risk of infidelity.
For women like Torres, the New Year holiday has an even greater
significance now, because each new day that she and her son are alive merits
celebration.
On New Year's Eve, Torres and her family will feast on a farm-raised
chicken that has its own special meaning. ''Look, I raised this chicken to
bring to you for Dec 31st,'' the activist was told by a young peasant woman
who she assisted in filing a lawsuit to gain access to health care and
antiretroviral drugs for herself and her husband.
(END/2002)
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