Daring to dream - Genevieve

The sexual and reproductive health and rights of people living with HIV have been neglected for far too long. After a positive diagnosis, many people have been advised to abstain from sexual activity or given other inappropriate information about their sexual and reproductive health and rights. In addition, despite living longer and healthier lives (because of increased access to antiretroviral therapy), many HIV positive women have been encouraged not to have children.

In Cameroon, IPPF – with support from the Japan Trust Fund for HIV/AIDS – is promoting the rights of people living with HIV, and empowering them to once again dare to dream.

Speaking from personal experience, Genevieve can now actively encourage people who are HIV positive to realize that they too can have a partner, enjoy sex, have a healthy baby and live a healthy family life.

Genevieve is 38 years old and was diagnosed with HIV in 1998 after the birth of her second child. She has been married for 20 years to her husband who is nine years older. They live in Yaoundé.

Both Genevieve and her husband could not believe that they were HIV positive and this put an enormous amount of strain on their marriage. The advice they received at the time was to stop having sex. At her lowest ebb, Genevieve felt angry and sometimes felt like walking out of her marriage.

In 2000 she decided to volunteer for an HIV project, combining a peer education role with her role as mother and housewife, while also continuing her studies. At that time she had two children, but dearly wanted to have more. This dream has come true and her family is now complete with the birth of her fourth child, Gloria, at the beginning of 2008.

She has become a woman at ease with her own sexuality, so much so that she now teaches about sexual and reproductive health at various centres where she has an educational role as well as directing her peers to service delivery points for health check-ups and contraception. In addition, Genevieve can see that her counselling and encouragement give other women the courage and support to believe that they can be mothers too, despite their HIV status.