The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) actively supports organisations working for prevention and control of HIV/AIDS in Africa. As such, AWDF provided a grant to the Association Togolaise “Femmes et Sida” (ATFS) to finance its economic empowerment project of women and young girls living with HIV/AIDS and also organise an anti-stigmatization campaign in the district of Agoè, Lomé, Togo.
In Togo as in lots of places, despite many years of fighting HIV/AIDS, the disease continues to spread and cause havoc, which is a hindrance to the country’s development. Because of inadequate access to health-care and lack of awareness on prevention, HIV/AIDS is a serious threat to public health, and also causes the discrimination, stigmatization, refusal of medical care or even the right to have a family, professional and social exclusion of affected people. It is more obvious that challenges to this scourge still persist.
With this background, the ATFS has chosen to focus on two main objectives: the awareness and the education of the community to reduce stigmatization and discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS and also the reduction of the socio-economic impact of HIV/AIDS on women who are living with it.
Thus, thanks to AWDF and the close cooperation of other local partners, an important campaign of awareness has been established by the ATFS. The creation of posters, prospectus and radio campaigns against the stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS and also direct discussions with the community have helped to decrease the discrimination of people who are affected by the disease.
Furthermore, in an effort to strengthen the empowerment of people who are affected, the ATFS selected thirty women and young girls living with HIV/AIDS in a precarious situation. These women took advantage of a learning experience and micro-credits which gave them access to the management of an income-generating activity.
Concretely, at the end of this project, it must be noted that there is a better fulfillment of women living with HIV/AIDS. Because of the opportunity to manage an income-generating activity, the status of women has improved. As a result of this, husbands give more regard and respect to their wives since they are now able to provide for their basic family needs. For example, thanks to this help, one of beneficiaries has been able to pay the health-care of her sick son.
Furthermore, within the community, a real change in mentality took place in the district of Agoè. As a result of the decline of stigmatization and discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS, life for affected women is better. The community has realized their human value and their rights which makes them more confident. One of beneficiaries has stated that: “we’re going out of a situation of fear knowing that there are some struggles for our legal, social and economic protection”.
Finally, even if there are some laws and policies aimed at combating the spread of HIV/AIDS, actions like this one are essential. To illustrate, after a meeting with the community during the prevention campaign, a man said that: “Ladies, this is gold that you are giving to us and this is human lives that you are saving”.
The great public mobilization and the beneficiaries’ goodwill have helped to realize significant improvements, both in terms of awareness of the community and improvement of the quality of the lives women living with HIV/AIDS.
However, the fight is not over, it must be continued and scaled up to improve the lives of the entire population of people living with HIV/AIDS.