Outreach Work

Today I tagged along with the head outreach worker at my program. The outreach workers are a group of HIV positive people that choose to use their status to benefit others. They go into the hospitals and communities in search of pregnant woman, encouraging them to get tested for HIV…all in hopes of preventing their children from contracting HIV during birth. Overall the experience in the hospital was unique. I was escorted through the HIV division where I was able to converse with all the doctors and counselors, while being explained the process. One of the doctors introduced me to a HIV patient that also has TB and explained his symptoms to me. Last week I saw a Leprosy patient. It’s so interesting to observe health problems that are almost nonexistent in the states anymore.
The hospital was a mad house, lacking any sense of order. As I walked into the phlebotomy lab I was trampled by eager patients that had in all probability waited hours to simply get their blood drawn. There was no order, there was no privacy. Families congregated on the floor in hallways pulling out their “tiffins” (metal Tupperware to store food) and having their meal. During orientation we were informed how public hospitals ran, but I had not expected this.

I had the privilege or the sorrow (it’s difficult to decide which one) to be given a tour of the ward where pre and post pregnancy women stayed. I even went into the surgical unit where the mothers give birth. As I entered I noticed all the doctors chatting on one side, while a woman who had just given birth, was sitting in pain on the opposite side. To my surprise I was allowed in without any sort of sanitization process. Next we went to a specific ward in search for a woman the outreach worker had been working with. This woman just gave birth to twins two days ago, and both children died within a day. The patient and husband were both HIV positive; however their families had no clue. There is no way to know if the children expired due to their mother being HIV positive or not. The ward she was staying in was appalling. Fifteen women smashed into an incredibly small room; some of the women’s cots were tattered up and placed on the floor. While I was attempting to talk to the woman (language gap) I was horrified when I saw at least 10 bugs crawling around the walls. No other unit was this unsanitary and disorganized, why this ward? Later I listed as the husband of the woman cried to the outreach worker for an hour and a half. He complained how the doctors hardly even touched his wife during birth and treated her horribly because she is HIV positive. The stigma obviously continues in Hyderabad. The outreach worker explained to me how she literally has to kiss ass to the doctors for them to even take the patients, however convincing the doctors to treat the HIV positive women like human beings is a novelty that isn’t available at the moment.

I met another girl of 22, who during her second pregnancy found out she was HIV positive. Her husband gave her HIV…then after finding out she was positive, left her at her parent’s house and then left her life. The outreach worker kept on instructing me to hold her hand as we continued down the hospital halls. I confused as to why until she explained to me that the parents and in-laws are not accepting this young girl anymore, and hardly speak to her. It seems the only reason they accompanied her to the hospital is over concern for the unborn child. She asked me to hold this girl’s hand to demonstrate to the family that I did not fear or reject her because of her status.

Finally we continued on to do work within the community. We arrived at an incredibly small house (after an expanded tour of the city by bus) where an expectant HIV positive mother lives. She is going to give birth any day now and is denying the fact that she and her husband are HIV positive. Her being aware and accepting of her status is important for the unborn child, because there are forms of prevention for the baby to contract HIV. The husband and wife were unbending in their belief that they are not positive because they are normally healthy. The outreach worker persisted for an hour and a half, even after being screamed at by the girl’s mother. The mother even accused the outreach worker of having the ulterior motive of interested in the husband. Basically there was no way around it and we were forced to leave, unsuccessfully.

Overall a sad, overwhelming, but motivating day. Plenty of work has been done in this field, however there is so much more to be done.