UNITE FOR CHILDREN UNITE AGAINST AIDS

25 July 2007

Reaching hard-to-reach mothers in rural Guyana

This week, I'm going to visit those hard to reach areas to focus on the mothers who have not been showing up at our clinics recently. I'll need to travel to the backlands and walk for miles in mud and bush, but it's worth it to have those ladies participating in our clinic sessions again.

Monday 16th July 2007
Today I visited the health clinic at Good Intent on the West Coast of Demerara. There weren't that many patients, just about 10 pregnant women attended the clinic. Since our work was completed early, I decided to go in search of a mother we had not seen for quite a while. 30 year-old Tricia (not her real name) is HIV positive. She used to be a member of the clinic when it began. She never gave us any reason for her absence but it may have been related to her not wanting to face the reality of her status.
 
We were finally able to locate Tricia. She abandoned her 8 year-old child who is now in the care of her grandmother. We were told that her other child who is HIV positive is now in the care of a nursing home in another part of the country. Tricia decided to admit the child to the nursing home because of financial problems. She does not have a job and is poor. Since she does not come to the clinic, I spent a lot of time counseling her and explained to her the dangers of unprotected sex. I encouraged her to return to the clinic so we can assist her and offer our support to both her and her child. At the end of the day, Tricia promised to come back to the clinic. It was a good session and I have a feeling that I'm now reaching her….she promised us that we would be seeing more of her.
 
Tuesday 17th July 2007
Today was a very busy day as we traveled to the village of Parika on the West Coast of Essequibo. Parika is both a business and farming area located about an hour's drive from Guyana's capital, Georgetown. We went in search of a 25 year old mother, Shamaine (not her real name) who has been skipping the clinic. Like Tricia, Shamaine is poor. She says she has not been to the clinic because she can't find the time to come.
To reach Shamaine's house, we had to do a lot of walking through mud. It took us half an hour of walking through this difficult terrain but we did find her. Her house was hidden in the back of the village. Shamaine is HIV positive and this is her 2nd pregnancy since learning about her status. The young woman was diagnosed in 2001. Five years later, she is still having unprotected sex and is apparently refusing to let her partners know that she is HIV positive which means they too might have become infected.
Shamaine's first child is also HIV positive and her partner is unaware of the status of both mother and child. We have been encouraging her to practice safe sex but as I mentioned, she has not been a regular visitor to the clinic.
We spent most of our time with Shamaine counseling her and offering support, we stressed how important it is for her to come back to the clinic. She promised that she would be rejoining it but based on our past experiences, we might have to look for her again since she is known to move often between villages.

Wednesday 18th July 2007
Today I spent the day at the Georgetown Public Hospital where there's a very large clinic. Close to 40 mothers attended the clinic. I did the usual talk about UNICEF's  Prevention from Mother-to-Child Transmission Programme (PMTCT) and the mothers asked some questions about HIV and AIDS. One mother wanted to learn more about breast feeding and whether the virus could be contained in breast milk. Another mother wanted to find out more about how a child could be infected while in the womb.
There were 9 new mothers and they all consented to be tested. They were all HIV negative! Although it was a very busy day it was also very satisfying since I was able to answer burning questions and imparted a lot of knowledge to these mothers. Work was completed relatively early today.
 
Thursday 19th July 2007
Today I traveled to the Vree den Hoop clinic on the West Bank of Demerara. Vree den Hoop is a small village. The clinic is based at the West Demerara Hospital which is about a half hour drive from the capital city.
All of the mothers present there were returning mothers. All in all, about 11 mothers attended the clinic today.
There was no testing since these mothers had already been tested, but I reminded them about the PMTCT Programme and had a little talk with them about HIV and AIDS and the role they could play in preventing the spread of the virus.
 
Friday 20th July 2007
I visited Leonora today on what could be described as a very "slow" Friday. We only had three new mothers attending the clinic. They were all counseled and accepted testing.
I talked with them about HIV and AIDS and how it can be transmitted to an unborn child. They asked serious questions and I offered my best answers. Although small, it was a very lively session filled with meaningful questions. One mother enquired about what support systems are available locally for HIV-positive mothers while another asked about the issue of breast milk and if it's really best for the baby when coming from an HIV-positive mother. One even wanted to know if the government would take care of her baby if it turned out to be HIV-positive and she died.
I left Leonora with a feeling of accomplishment, eager to start next week's work.