(ERGO) – The doors have closed on the only centre in Hargeisa offering free treatment and support services for people living with HIV/AIDS in Somaliland.
The closure of Talo-Wadag has left nearly 400 people unable to contemplate their future and support their families.
Gedi Adan Muse (not his real name) was one of 15 employed at Talo-wadag. Since its closure in November 2022, he has been struggling to provide a living for his wife and seven children.
“It has had a huge impact. We were getting nutrition, free medication, and support. Even sick children with the virus used to come here,” he said.
He has been looking for jobs but faces stigma due to his HIV positive status.
“We get two meals a day just white rice or a little spaghetti or flat bread. It’s not a balanced diet. If the children are not getting enough food, it’s hard for us adults to get enough food.
I lock myself in the house so the children don’t see me. Besides having the virus, this is adding so much to my stress,” he exclaimed.
Gedi, who was diagnosed eight years ago, was a counsellor at Talo-Wadag centre providing support and advice to clients. His $170 a month salary paid for his household needs. He feels lost without the many friends he met there.
“They are just like me; the last time I saw them was when the centre closed. We were all close and helped each other and collected money for each other. We have lost contact now. I don’t even know if some of them are still alive. I know some are beggars now as the situation forced them to go out and beg,” he said.
Gedi lost his job as a police officer in 2015 when he tested HIV positive. He spent a long period back then staying at home and depending on handouts for the family. Even his close relatives shunned him.
The job at the centre got him back on his feet. Two of his children have completed their studies and he was planning to enroll them in universities in January. He can no longer support their education.
Ismahan Ali (not her real name), a mother of four, also lost her job in awareness-raising at Talo-Wadag centre.
She says she has been covering her face and going out looking for laundry jobs.
“I was a working person and taking care of my children, I was depending on no one except God. Some of the people working at the centre are now beggars, while others collect plastic waste in the city. Life has completely changed since we stopped working,” she said.
Ismahan told Radio Ergo’s local reporter that her husband died of AIDs in 2017, when he was unable to access necessary treatment.
Without access to free antiretrovirals any longer, she faces the same prospect.
The director of Talo-wadag, Ali Abdi Hugur, said they had first faced cuts in funding from UNICEF after the outbreak of COVID19. He understood that the final closure was due to funds being prioritised for the drought.
The centre provided a full range of services, including medication to prevent perinatal transmission from mother to child during pregnancy, birth, or breastfeeding. It also provided food for families of clients and was an important social space for those infected and affected to meet, socialise, and support each other.
“We are not providing any services relating to HIV now although some people still come or call, but we can’t help them.
There are no other centres that offer these services where we can refer them. There has been no effort to revive the programmes,” Ali Abdi Hugur stated.
