A number of hospitals have been sterilising women found to have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, without their knowledge to stop them from having children and possibly passing the virus to them.
More than 40 women living with HIV have in fact sued several hospitals claiming they were sterilised without their consent by healthcare providers. The women say they have been rendered barren as a result of the permanent and irreversible birth control method.
The women, drawn mainly from Nairobi, Kisumu and Kakamega counties, have instituted the suit through Africa Gender Media Initiative (GEM) and Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network on HIV &AIDS (KELIN).
A study conducted by GEM identified eight hospitals in Nairobi and two in Western as the institutions that perform the procedure. Victims of forced sterilisation have increasingly come forward to share their harrowing tales, demonstrating that the practice is a widespread and systematic policy, and not mere isolated incidents.
Women have reported being tricked, lied to, and even tied up by medical professionals to lure them to be sterilised in their hundreds. While there is no specific legislation in Kenya, the National Family Planning Guidelines for Service Providers emphasises informed and voluntary consent prior to female surgical sterilisation.
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Risper Atieno, who says she was only 20 years old when she found out she was HIV-positive, observes that it was not until after seven years of being sterilised that she found out what the procedure entails.
Ms Atieno, who was pregnant at the time, says she had serious complications that forced her to terminate the pregnancy and that is when the doctors performed a Tubal Ligation (TL) without her consent.
“I went to Kenyatta National Hospital for what the doctor said was a much needed termination of the foetus, owing to complications. However, when he was through he told me that because of my status he had deemed it fit to sterilise me,” she says.
She adds that because she did not understand what the doctor told her she assumed it was a reversible procedure and that she would be able to have another child. “I did not know what sterilisation was and so when I realised I could not have children I inquired further and that is when I was informed of the permanent condition that was forced on me,” she says.
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Atieno adds that she did not sign any consent form for the TL and she cannot imagine why anyone would take away that right without as much as informing her about it. Her attorney could not access any of her hospital documents as they are alleged to have been “misplaced” to date.
“We have been in court for two years and the hospital says that they cannot trace my files and so I honestly do not know what to do. All I want to know is of anyone has a way of reversing this situation,” she says.
Just like Ms Atieno many women have gone through coerced sterilisation, with some enticed with financial or other incentives or lack of information as in the case of Diana Kilimo who was misinformed for this purpose.
“I was provided with free milk for six months as well as a voucher for Caesarian Section for the child since they told me that was the only way my child would grow HIV-negative and because I did not have money for the milk or operation I gladly accepted, a decision I deeply regret,” she says.
Many women are sterilised in public hospitals and they do not find out just what happened, while others say health workers are convinced that they are helping them.
[crp]
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