Women living with HIV are documenting evidence regarding forced sterilisation with the aim of seeking recourse in the country’s courts, The Zimbabwean has learnt.
Most of the sterilisation cases were recorded between 1985 and 1994 before the advent of Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission methods in 1995.
Sterilization was adopted in Zimbabwe and other countries as a way of stopping HIV-positive mothers from falling pregnant. In some cases, HIV-positive women had their placentas removed.
Documentation of sterilisation evidence is also happening in Kenya, South Africa, Swaziland and Namibia where the International Community of Women Living with HIV is giving legal assistance to affected mothers.
All these activities were motivated by the Namibian High Court that recently ruled in favour of three women who claimed they had been sterilised without their informed consent.
International Community of Women Living with HIV and AIDS Regional Coordinator, Promise Mthembu, said they have embarked on a regional investigation of sterilisation cases that they would document and use to seek recourse in the courts.
“We have seen an increase of women living with HIV being coerced into sterilization in the region (southern Africa).We are assisting women in the region to make sure that their right to giving birth despite being HIV positive is observed and respected, “she said.
Tendai Westerhof, the Public Personalities against AIDS Trust Director, herself a victim of forced sterilization, is among the local women who are seeking legal redress.
“When I fell pregnant and discovered that I was HIV positive, I went to the doctor seeking counselling. I was told the best way to go was sterilisation,” Westerhof testified to The Zimbabwean on Tuesday.
“We have seen a lot of women living with HIV being forced to get sterilised. I cannot bear children anymore. If I had been given adequate information regarding the child bearing status of an HIV-positive woman, I would have known that I still had the right and chance to give birth to a healthy child,” she added.
PMTCT, introduced in 1995, is now one of the most effective ways to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and can reduce the chance of a child getting the virus to below 2 percent.
Before the introduction of PMTCT, contracting HIV was generally regarded as a death sentence because of the absence of treatment.
Subsequently, anti-retroviral drugs were discovered, thereby prolonging the life of AIDS patients.