Q&A:
Science Ignores AIDS in
Women, Says Nobel
Nominee
Interview with Argentine
activist Patricia Pérez
BUENOS AIRES, (IPS)
- Science has yet to
provide rigorous studies
of how HIV/AIDS or the
impacts of
antiretroviral
medications affect
women's bodies in
particular, Argentine
activist Patricia Pérez,
nominated for the 2007
Nobel Peace Prize, told
Tierramérica.
This lack of knowledge
is due to the fact that
women remain invisible
in the health care
systems, according to
Argentine activist
Patricia Pérez, who was
diagnosed with HIV
(human immunodeficiency
virus) when she was 24
and told that she might
survive two years more.
That was two decades
ago. The world was just
beginning to reach
widespread awareness of
AIDS. Pérez cried
because she didn't know
what to do. Separated,
and with a son, once she
regained composure she
began contacting others
with the same problems
and worries and created
a group of volunteers at
the Hospital Muńiz of
Buenos Aires to attend
to their needs.
Five years later she
took part in a
demonstration in London
of 10,000 people with
HIV and truly realised
that she was not alone.
"I couldn't plan years
in advance, but I began
to think about the next
few months," she
recalled.
At age 30, she helped
found in Amsterdam the
International Community
of Women Living with
HIV/AIDS (ICW), which
has 8,000 members in 57
countries. She is now
coordinator of the Latin
American branch, ICW
Latina.
In 2003, she was called
by then-United Nations
secretary-general Kofi
Annan to track progress
on the agreements of the
2001 UN Special Session
on HIV/AIDS, as one of
the 15 people in the
world with most
experience in the
subject.
This year she was
nominated for the Nobel
Peace prize by the First
Lady of Honduras,
Xiomara Castro, to make
visible a problem that
affects 19 million women
around the globe. The
government of Argentina
is backing the
nomination.
Pérez spoke with
Tierramérica/IPS
correspondent Marcela
Valente:
TIERRAMÉRICA: What was
your life like before
the HIV diagnosis?
PATRICIA PÉREZ: I was a
gym instructor and
worked for the
municipality of Buenos
Aires.
TA: How did you find out
you had the virus?
PP: My boyfriend at the
time had a test that
came out positive. I
went back and forth for
six months before I had
the test. At that time
they didn't distinguish
between the virus and
AIDS, they talked about
the "pink plague",
associating the disease
especially with gays. I
thought the test had to
be wrong because I felt
fine.
TA: How has your life
changed since then?
PP: Being put on the
verge like that changes
you. But you get beyond
the commotion and the
paralysis, and you begin
to live the best way
possible. First I began
to work for myself. I
decided that I wasn't
going to sit and wait
for death. I wanted to
understand what was
happening to me and to
talk with other people
who were like me, to see
what problems we'd have
to face.
The medical workers, for
example, weren't
trained. You'd be in a
hospital waiting room
and a nurse would say:
"The woman with AIDS,
please come this way,"
and your blood would run
cold. After feeling that
aggression, I tried to
do things to change that
reality.
TA: What are the
problems for women with
HIV?
PP: The health policies
don't have a gender
perspective. There are
no specific studies of
how the virus and the
treatments affect our
bodies in particular. We
have hormonal
differences, differences
in the reproductive
system, a greater
predisposition for
certain types of cancer,
and all of this is just
barely beginning to come
to light because of
pressure from us.
Until recently, they
demanded that we didn't
have more children. If
you became pregnant you
were a criminal. These
problems have to do with
a cultural question that
AIDS brings into sharp
focus. In Latin America,
we women are always a
step farther behind, and
AIDS demonstrates that
disparity in a cruel
way.
TA: What are the
challenges that ICW
Latina is confronting?
PP: We accompany women
from the diagnosis on,
and respect their time
(in dealing with it) and
help them to prepare
themselves. And that is
not just knowing how to
use a condom, but rather
negotiating with the
doctor for better
treatment, demanding
that the government
provide high quality
pharmaceuticals, and
appeal for justice.
There are countries in
this region where a
woman can be rejected in
an adoption application
or discriminated against
for custody rights in a
divorce (because she has
HIV).
TA: How did the idea
come about to organise
girls?
PP: Many of my
colleagues have
daughters with the virus
who are entering
adolescence and have
other needs. Paediatric
AIDS practically doesn't
exist on the agenda.
There are very few
treatment formulas and
it is difficult to
achieve adherence to the
treatment program. But
we don't want to speak
for them, which is why
they also participate
with their own voice.
TA: What do you think of
your Nobel nomination?
PP: That it will help
make our voice heard and
help put us on the
policy agendas, beyond
the AIDS community.
(*Originally published
by Latin American
newspapers that are part
of the Tierramérica
network. Tierramérica is
a specialised news
service produced by IPS
with the backing of the
United Nations
Development Programme
and the United Nations
Environment Programme.)
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