Fatima's Diary: 'Save My Mother' in Niger (Part 2)

 Continuing on from Part 1..

 Sunday 12 June 2011
Spent the afternoon at Bafouneye where women living with HIV were being trained on how to approach sex workers and sensitise them on talking about HIV and the risks involved in unprotected sex. A key learning point from the session was that women should not be approached as a sex worker, rather, they should be approached as one woman approaching another. This is an effective way to start dialogue, and just as importantly, share information with those at risk of contracting HIV. Several women were chosen as representatives for making visits to various areas in the coming weeks (awareness sessions were also held with youths on HIV and AIDS).

At Bafouneye, women being trained on how to sensitise sex workers

Monday 13 June 2011
Started the new week with a visit to the office. Today the interim country director for IR Niger is planning her trip to Ghana for a visa application to the UK – there is no UK embassy in Niger so it’s a bit of a long trip! Had a brief meeting with her to discuss the progress of the Save My Mother project and later went to see the ladies at Bafouneye. Today the ladies were dyeing clothes – producing dresses is another income-generation activity for them and by the looks of it the whole process is very impressive.
Have been taking a lot of photos today. Living with HIV is not the same as living with most other illnesses; it has a stigma attached to it which can be debilitating for the sufferer on a social level as well as health wise. Many HIV sufferers have in the past committed suicide due to the fear of discrimination they face, so I can only imagine how courageous these women are to make public their HIV status so that the world can see and understand more about their lives.

Tuesday 14 June 2011
I made a visit to Tillerberri today to visit the Regional Direction. This is a representation of the Health Ministry in Niger for the area. The purpose of the trip was to get sign-off by the direction to start the process of the next phase of the project - to train health care agents on HIV in health-care settings. Approximately100km away, the journey there provided an opportunity to see another part of Niger. Though it’s not very far from Niamey, Tillerberri is still very different to the main city. For starters it is more rural and the whispers of the desert plains are more evident here. Although we managed to get the sign-off on the programme, a setback has occurred. The area in Tillerberri, Kollo, where we are planning to have the training has in the last day experienced a cholera outbreak involving fatalities. Will update on this.

Regional Direction, Tillerberri

Wednesday 15 June 2011
The morning was spent at the United Nations where I met with staff at the UNDP to learn more about what they are doing in the response to HIV and AIDS in Niger and the work being done through two implementers on the field, the Global Fund and UNAIDS. The UNDP connected me with the national commission on HIV and AIDS in Niger, the CISLS, with whom I met later in the afternoon.  The commission is the focal point for all HIV and AIDS-related activities at the local and national level in the country, and provides a resource-base for NGOs ranging from assistance on information to programmatic guidance. 
It was an interesting day. What is apparent is that these bodies cannot work effectively without the active engagement and participation of the grassroots organisations working at the community level. Both are vital for each other in the response to HIV and AIDS and both provide each other with support in their own ways, from funding and information, to general assistance.

On a separate note, I cannot not make a comment about the moon tonight! It looks beautiful from the UK but here it is breath taking! It looks so much bigger here for some reason! (any astronomers reading this, do feel free to drop a note and explain this..!!!)

Outside UN complex

Thursday 16 June 2011
Baby day! I went to visit a maternity clinic where pregnant women were being given education on HIV testing during their pregnancies. A HIV test is very important since steps can be taken to ensure a mother does not transmit the virus to her unborn baby. The afternoon was spent at Solthis, a network which works on HIV projects in four different countries including in Niger. The doctor I met there told me one harrowing story I cannot forget about the nature of stigmatisation across the health sector which affects access to health care services for women living with HIV. In one locality, a lady due to give birth was denied midwifery assistance as health care staff were scared they may become infected also. As a result, the woman had to go back home and give birth alone. However, there were serious complications in which the child actually fell onto the floor during the birth and unable to sustain the injuries, died. This is one of many tragic incidences affecting women living with HIV. She also told me of how a lot of the women with whom she was regularly in touch with and helping had actually been infected by their husbands who had had extra-marital affairs. Some very sad stories.

One of several health sessions for pregnant women and the importance of HIV testing

Friday 17 June 2011
A day of ongoing electricity issues so telephone and internet use are very limited. This past week there has been ongoing electricity problems, both during day and night. It’s strange actually, I remember early this week I was in the office around 8pm and having a discussion with one of the field officers when, out of the blue, the lights went out, the fans turned off, and save for the limited light coming from his laptop, we were sitting virtually in the dark continuing our meeting like the lights never went out..! But regular electricity issues is a reality for Niger as it is for many other developing nations, and it’s more a case of accommodating yourself as best you can with what resources you currently have. In the afternoon I met up with Oxfam who coincidentally are only a few minutes away from the office..! Niger has a very high concentration of NGOs working on the ground. Given that it is one of the poorest countries in the world (it ranks very low on the global Human Development Index (HDI)) it is understandable to see why this is the case.  


In the following days I met up with the United Nations Population Fund and Medicines Sans Frontiers. I was also invited to attend a meeting at the National Hospital held with some of the country’s most prolific doctors working in the areas of HIV, Malaria and TB. Perhaps the most memorable aspect of the week was case study interviews with people living with HIV. My last week in Niger, though not any less busy, proved to be the most memorable for several reasons (which I shall explain in the next blog).

Till next time.