People
Living with HIV/AIDS need your care and support, spiritual, social,
economic, nutritional & medication using ARV’s and treatment
which many people in rural areas cannot afford. In the absence
of a cure and adequate treatment to reduce damage to the immune
system, providing care often means helping people living with
HIV/AIDS cope with the psychological and social as well as physical
burdens of a chronic and ultimately a chronicle illness. |
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Similarly,
HIV positive people need HIV / AIDS education to provide help
and support for them, enabling them to understand and to cope
with the knowledge that they are infected with HIV. Education
for HIV positive people should also help to prevent the onward
transmission of HIV. |
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When
receiving a HIV positive test result, many people feel that they
have been given a death sentence. HIV / AIDS education and counseling
for HIV positive people has several main goals: |
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·
To help people to cope with the trauma of a HIV positive test
result.
· To inform HIV positive people about the nature of HIV
and AIDS.
· To help them to confront any discrimination they may
face as a result of being infected with HIV.
· To enable them to lead full and healthy lives.
· To enable them, should they wish to, to have an active
sexual life without passing the infection on to anyone else.
· To ensure that the infection isn't passed on by any other
means - the sharing of injecting equipment, for example. |
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Most
people who are HIV positive have acquired the infection from another
person, whether sexually or via injecting equipment, however research
reveals that 80% of all HIV infection are a result of Sexual intercourse.
Just as people who are not HIV positive must take responsibility
for their own protection, so must people who are HIV positive
take responsibility for ensuring that they do not pass the virus
on to anyone else. |
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| NEEDS
ASSESSMENT REPORT ON PLWHA/OVC’s |
| EPIDEMIC
BACKGROUND: |
AIDS!
Acquired immuno deficiency syndrome, initially known as
‘silm’ due to its physically wasting characteristics.
It began to spread in Uganda on the shores of lake Victoria
in the late 1970s. |
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1982
the first AIDS case in Uganda was diagnosed. Between 1982
and 1986 there was little understanding of what AIDS was,
and it was not known that is was caused by HIV. During this
period the epidemic was largely associated to witch craft.
During the early 1990s HIV prevalence peaked at over 30%
and until recently has been much higher than that in some
areas. Uganda is now estimated to have about 1 million people
living with HIV/AIDS. Uganda’s ministry of health
surveillance unit estimated that there were about 1,050,5557
people living with HIV/AIDS by end of December 2001 and
that there had been over 940,000 HIV/AIDS – related
deaths since the onset of the epidemic in the country. |
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HIV/AIDS
has not only a social but an economic cost. HIV/ AIDS related
expenses in Uganda cost the public services in 1999, and
the country’s GDP has fallen, as has the life, expectancy
of its population – in 2001, only 44.7 years at birth,
of this shs 3 billion, sh192m was for burial expenses. AIDS
is known to hamper efforts to reduce poverty, and indeed,
often increases the numbers of people living in extreme
poverty. As AIDS usually kills sexually-active adults, it
tends to strike hardest against a country’s labour
–force. The impact has on economic revenues negatively
effects the educational and health services and leaves behind
orphaned children and grand parents an additional burden
on the community or the state. |
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| RAKAI
DISTRICT BACKGROUND: |
Rakai
District is located in the South Western Uganda bordered
by Tanzania in the South, Mbarara District in the West,
Masaka District in the North, Sembabule in the N/West and
Kalangala District in the South East. Rakai is situated
about 190 km from the National Capital Kampala. The District
covers an area of about 4989 sq. km. Over 75% of Rakai soils
are ferralitic, representing an almost final stage of weathering
with little or no mineral reserve left. Some heavy clay
varieties have some fertility but sandy varieties are particulaly
poor. Rakai District can be categorised as an ethnically
rich District. The dominant is the Baganda followed by the
Banyankole. |
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With
an estimated population of 471,806 people, Rakai District
has a confirmed number of 60,000 of people living with HIV/AIDS
and similarly a number of 45,000 AIDS Orphans, and only
500 on ARV’s. Rakai District is where the first AIDS
cases in Uganda were identified in 1982 and it has been
terribly devastated and depopulated due to the epidemic.
Some house holds were completely erased by the AIDS epidemic
living no one behind. |
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| AGENCY
BACKGROUND |
| Africa
Youth Ministries Uganda is a Child & Youth Focused registered
Non Governmental and Non Profit making Organisation founded
in 2003. AYMU is involved in implementing HIV/AIDS related
projects in the areas of Community Based Support & Care
for People Living with HIV/AIDS, HIV/AIDS awareness &
prevention focusing on in & out of school youth ages 12-25,
similarly the organization focuses on the young married people
encouraging them to be faithful to one another to avoid HIV/AIDS
infection. Further, AYMU is involved in community care and
support of AIDS Orphans and Children & Youth living with
AIDS. The organization is also involved in implementing Peace
building & humanitarian & relief projects. |
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| NEEDS
ASSESSMENT FINDINGS; |
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The needs assessment
study carried out on 30th of January 2005, focused on people
living with HIV/AIDS and OVC’s in the District of
Rakai, Lwanda Sub-county and Kyotera Town Council.
The Needs Assessment study was conducted by Africa Youth
Ministries Uganda in Collaboration with Rakai Women Against
AIDS & Poverty/PHA’s (RWAAP) as our partner in
Rakai District. The components of our study focused on the
general human living conditions e.g. Feeding, Housing, Income
Generating activities, Clothing, Beddings, Education, Medication
etc.
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| HOUSING:
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| The
needs assessment study discovered that all the people living
with HIV/AIDS visited were living in very poor mud & wattle
houses or huts. All the houses seen were leaking and they
offered no shelter in rainy seasons and others were on the
verge of collapsing and others had already collapsed. |
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Mr.
Jimmy Bukenya & his wife Kate Bukenya above, they have
been living with AIDS for the last 20 years, they are on
ARV’s. Their 14 years son & 17 years daughter
are also HIV positive. As you can see above their house
collapsed on them and now they’re staying in their
kitchen |
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Polly
Natabi 34 AIDS widow, and living with AIDS supported by
AYMU together with her 3 orphans. |
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Annet
Nabulya 42 years above she’s an AIDS widow at the
same time living with AIDS. Her house collapsed on her and
she now lives temporarily in the neighbor’s house
with her 2 sons with no source of income |
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The
house above is a home to a couple living with AIDS together
with their 5 Children. The walls of the house are on the
verge of collapse and the roof leaking terribly. |
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| FEEDING:
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| All
the people living with AIDS visited complained of lack of
food and they lived only on one meal a day. The major cause
of lack of food was because they were too weak to dig or cultivate
the field to grow their own food. Similarly, they did not
have any money on them to buy food or to hire labour for cultivation
and for buying seeds. |
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Kaloli
Mulindwa 63 & wife Toepista 51 years above are both
living with AIDS, they have no energy to cultivate their
fields. Worse still they have to care & support their
5 grand Children who are equally AIDS Orphans. |
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| BEDDINGS:
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| During
our needs assessment study we discovered that 90% of the people
living with AIDS with visited, never had blankets, bed sheets,
mattresses, beds, etc. They slept on grass, papyrus mats,
and they covered themselves using rags together with their
children |
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The
lady is living with aids for the last 13 years, and her
Children are equally HIV positive, together with her children
have no beddings, they sleep on grass. |
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| MEDICATION:
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Rakai
district has a confirmed tested number 60,000 people living
with HIV/AIDS. However, only 500 people are on ARV’s,
similarly only a few of the people living with HIV/AIDS
can afford treatment of opportunistic diseases such as cough,
diarrhea, malaria etc. |
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Munana
George 35 above together with his wife is HIV positive together
with their 5 children and they are not on ARV’s. |
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| EDUCATION:
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| Many
of the AIDS Orphans are in school catasy of the government
policy of Universal Primary Education (UPE) but their guardians
cannot afford to provide scholastic materials such as books,
pens, pencils, uniform etc. However, majority of such Children
after completion of primary education they hardly join secondary
education because their guardians cannot afford to pay for
their school fees. |
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Children
of Rhythm Troup Orphanage established by a retired Lady
soldier Lieutenant Ndagano Rose. 100% of the above children
are AIDS Orphans. They stay in the orphanage and they attend
different schools in the Kyotera Township. Africa Youth
Ministries Uganda partners with them through scholastic
materials, & feeding. |
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The
AIDS epidemic being one of the major accelerators of poverty,
majority of people living with AIDS cannot afford to buy
new clothes for themselves and their Children. Majority
of them put on rags and some children stay naked |
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