Prior to March 2023, not much had been going on well for Madalitso (not real name).
“My husband did not know I was HIV positive. I first knew this status when I took my first child, who was almost one-and-a-half years old, to the health centre where a routine check revealed I was HIV positive. The child’s result came back negative,” she says.
During her pregnancy with her first-born child, she had attended antenatal clinics and had tested negative for HIV on all occasions.
However, after testing positive over one year later, she felt an overwhelming urge to confide in her husband about her condition. But instead of revealing her status, she simply motivated him to take an HIV test and take care of his health.
“He refused to go for a test, saying he was afraid he would soil himself if he tested positive. So, I let it slide, hoping he would find it within himself to make that decision,” she says.
She then started taking ARVs behind his back, but along the way, she defaulted.
“After I stopped taking ARVs I had constant headaches,” she says. Her headaches, one suspects, resulted from the weight of her secret taking a toll on both her mind and body.
Tropical Cyclone Freddy upended her life further after their house collapsed and everything, including her hospital cards, got destroyed. The roads were also impassable. She was also pregnant with her second child.
“We had no food in the house, so I didn’t know what to take the drugs with even if I succeeded in getting them,” Madalitso explains.
Amidst the chaos caused by the cyclone, Patricia Chikopa, the site coordinator for Mother2Mother initiative at Namphungo Health Centre in Mulanje, took it upon herself to search for individuals who may have unintentionally missed their antiretroviral therapy (ART) due to the devastating catastrophe.
“When we checked hospital records at the ART clinic after the cyclone, we realised that one of our clients was 65 days behind schedule. We referred the case to our colleagues working in the community to reach out to her and find out her problem,” she says.
Annie Kaira, the mentor mother in Madalitso’s community, went above and beyond to connect with and assist Madalitso in her journey.
“Her excuses for missing her appointments were the impact of the cyclone and fear of her husband as he was not aware of her status. When we disclosed her condition to him, he was surprised and disappointed that she had kept this to herself. We managed to persuade him to get tested as well. He went to the clinic the following day where he tested negative for HIV,” Kaira explains.
Chikopa, Kaira, and their team offered him guidance, particularly on how to maintain a healthy family dynamic and prevent any future cases of default by Madalitso.
“As a mother mentor at the facility, I was happy with the outcome. Madalitso has since never missed an appointment and we have visited the family twice to provide them with moral support,” Chikopa says.
Madalitso’s situation is just one example of the numerous sero-discordant couples in the area whose families remain strong and united, even after revealing their different health statuses.
“Because of the counsel we give them, most of such spouses are supportive of each other. Some even come to the facility to get drugs for their partners or even bring their children to the facility,” Chikopa explains.
Madalitso is grateful to the mentor mothers for allaying her fears and bringing her family together.
“The mentor mothers have been incredibly supportive by frequently visiting us. My husband has also been a great source of support to me. He reminds me every single day to take my medication. Thanks to this, I have regained my strength and can now engage in activities like farming,” Madalitso states.
Both her children tested negative for HIV.
With financial support from UNICEF, Mother2Mother implemented an emergency response project from April to September 2023 in Chiradzulu and Mulanje, with the aim of identifying vulnerable populations and people living with HIV, and refer them for testing and services, support client initiation on ART, and provide adherence counselling for retention in care.
The project also aspired to support access to critical maternal and child health, development and social services as well as create demand for and facilitate access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services.
The project deployed 58 community health workers to provide emergency response services using a family-centred approach at health facilities, community, camps for internally displaced persons and household-level in Chiradzulu and Mulanje districts.
