AIDS Awareness Campaign -- Stories from Africa

Protecting mothers and babies from HIV transmission in rural Ghana

Due to a lack of education and literacy in rural communities, misunderstandings about HIV/AIDS are common. Few organizations choose to dedicate the resources necessary to educate rural communities. It is often difficult to access rural villages and extensive planning and relationship building is required to create forums appropriate to village culture on issues of sexuality.

To bridge the disparity that exists in understandings of HIV/AIDS amongst rural and urban communities, the Community Development Awareness Forum (CODAF) is committed to empowering women in rural communities. For the past two years, CODAF has targeted 31 villages in Ghana's Volta Region, educating these communities about ways to reduce mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS.

CODAF discovered the extent of misinformation about HIV/AIDS when a survey team asked rural villagers about the words they used to describe the disease. Agba tsoma peadroe (a load that you carry but you can never put down), esivi (lean), and dikanaku (to grow skinny and die) were among the most popular names for HIV/AIDS. It seemed that every time a person fell ill, the villagers would suspect HIV/AIDS even if it was just as likely that other diseases were to blame.

To create awareness and understanding about modes of transmission and risky behaviors, CODAF targeted specific groups within the 31 communities through workshops. Their first workshop was organized for 53 traditional birth attendants (TBAs), who were identified as being one of the populations most likely to transmit HIV/AIDS and most susceptible to blood to blood contamination. "Seventy percent of births in Ghana are attended by TBAs, but less than twenty percent of these TBAs use handgloves during the delivery process," said Deleli Neds, a workshop organizer.

Usually, TBAs are farming or attending to other chores when they receive word of a mother going into labor. They must drop everything and run to deliver the baby. Because of the manual labor that they perform in the fields, the TBAs may have cuts on their hands. When they arrive at the mother's side, they often do not think to protect themselves against the transmission of HIV/AIDS. Evelyn Dey, who organizes CODAF's workshops, stated, "The traditional birth attendants never knew they were at risk."

Another group that was targeted with workshops was expectant couples. They were provided a four-day workshop on ways to reduce behaviors that increase the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission. They discussed proper prenatal nutrition and preparations for delivery while counseling the attending couples. "It was important to bring the men into the delivery process. Usually, men are not a big part of the pregnancy. We gave them ideas on how they can support the women."

These trainings have all but transformed how pregnancies and births occur in these 31 rural villages. "The training has given the TBAs confidence in themselves and recognition for the important work that they do," says Evelyn Dey. Traditional birth attendants now require that pregnant women fulfill their prenatal appointments at the regional health center or they refuse to attend the birth. As a result of this new confidence in their work, out of the 116 births that have taken place in the villages since the trainings began, none have been still births.


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