People with HIV have a substantially
higher risk of some types of cancer. Three of these cancers are known as, “AIDS
defining cancers”: Kaposi sarcoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and cervical cancer. A
diagnosis of any one of these cancers marks the point at which HIV infection
has progressed to AIDS[1]
Yodit, a fifty year old widow, who has three children, aged
15, 17 and 23, lives on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, at the foothills of the
capital’s highest mountain, Entoto. She rents a single room with her children
and struggles to find money for rent and food because of her health condition.
She had to give up her vegetable selling as her health deteriorated.
Consequently, her children had to stop going to school as she was unable to pay
their fees.
Our partner
in Ethiopia, Hospice Ethiopia heard
about Yodit through a community volunteer named Desta, who visited Yodit, had
coffee with her and listened to her story.
Desta found out that Yodit was diagnosed with HIV five years ago and was
also diagnosed with cervical cancer two years later. Yodit was referred to
Hospice Ethiopia for support.
Yodit
suffered from back, side, stomach, head and eye pain. The pain was so severe
that it left her bed bound and unable to care for her children. She was also
constipated and had a smelly vaginal discharge. She was extremely worried about
her financial situation.
After a thorough assessment, she was given morphine syrup for
her pain, medicine for constipation and antibiotics for her discharge. Yodit
was supported financially through Hospice Ethiopia’s Comfort Food Programme and
community members were encouraged to support her.
After a month, Yodit’s pain was under control and she was
able to tend to her children. She is still being monitored every two weeks but
she has been back selling vegetables to support herself and her family,
something she would not have been able to do, had she not been referred by a
volunteer and given support by Hospice Ethiopia.
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