Lawsuit alleges Namibian women were misled, sterilized (Feature)

By German Press Agency Sep 12, 2010, 3:22 GMT

Windhoek - Rachel, a Namibian woman in her 30s, says she was unwittingly sterilized after the birth of her first child because she is HIV positive.

Doctors and nurses at Katutura State Hospital in the Namibian capital, Windhoek, 'robbed me of motherhood,' she says. 'I did not know what they were doing.'

Rachel, who preferred not to give her real name for fear that her family might find out her medical status, is one of many women who were allegedly coerced into signing their fertility away because they were HIV-positive, activists say.

She makes a living selling fried meat called kapana on the streetcorners of the Namibian capital, Windhoek. After leaving school at 14, she migrated from her village in rural northern Namibia to seek her luck in the city.

She makes do with a couple of dollars a week, which barely feed her. But this, she says, is not near as bad as having to see all the other women tend to their children.

'I don't have any of my own. My first-born died after a couple of months, and now I cannot give birth anymore,' she says, her voice tinged with sadness and dejection.

Rosa Namises of Women's Solidarity, an organization lobbying for the rights of women to be recognized in a male-dominated society, said: 'The sterilization of women without consent is an emerging problem, the extent of which is yet to be discovered.'

Just how grave the problem is, and whether the Health Ministry will be held accountable, was argued last week in the Namibian High Court.

Three women represented by the Legal Assistance Centre are suing the Health Ministry for more than 1 million Namibia dollars (150 thousand US dollars) each. They say they signed their bodies away without being aware of what they were agreeing to at the time, only to find out later that they had been sterilized.

They may be fighting the case for many other women, who feel betrayed by the doctors and nurses they were supposed to trust.

'These violations of women's rights are in the context of a broader set of violations occurring against women at hospitals and clinics,' says Veronica Kalambi of Women's Health Network.

Rachel was vulnerable as soon as she sought medical care. 'When I came to the hospital, nobody spoke my language, Oshiwambo,' she told the German Press Agency dpa.

And worse, Rachel says, she was told to sign a paper without understanding what she was signing, completely unaware of the implications. 'I did that, because I wanted to see my child safe.'

Being HIV-positive made her feel like an outcast. 'Once they know your condition, they make you feel that you are worth nothing,' Rachel says.

'What is needed is for the Ministry of Health and its employees to change their attitude and allow people irrespective of their health or economic status to be properly treated and properly informed about their options,' says Namises.

Earlier this year, she and other activists staged a mock sterilization on the doorstep of the ministry headquarters - acting out what allegedly happens to women in Namibia's hospitals - and handed over a petition demanding more humane and informed treatment of women in the government's care.

The Health Ministry has remained tight-lipped.

Apart from repeating that it was not aware of any wrongdoing and that it was by no means government policy to sterilize HIV-positive women, the ministry says it is unable to comment due to the ongoing lawsuit.

Following a week of hearings the case, which may see many more days of evidence and cross examination of alleged victims, nurses, doctors and experts, was postponed until January.