NGO helps HIV-positive Algerians battle workplace discrimination

18/01/2008

Cast out by their families and often fired for no valid reason, Algerians with HIV/AIDS are turning to NGOs for help. The El Hayet Association for People Living with HIV has been working since 1998 to dispel taboos about the illness and help HIV-positive men and women find ways of earning a living.

By Hayam El Hadi for Magharebia in Algiers – 18/01/08

[File] Algeria's health ministry reported more than 2,000 confirmed cases of HIV/AIDS in the country during the first quarter of 2007.

Twenty-two years after the first case of AIDS was diagnosed in Algeria, people living with HIV continue to be stigmatised by society. Although various government and NGO campaigns have shed light on how HIV is transmitted, the illness remains a taboo subject throughout the country.

Despite being protected by anti-discrimination laws, HIV sufferers face systematic rejection. Some are fired for no reason, and others are cast out by their families or are forced to keep the illness a secret. For help, many are turning to organisations which offer them a supportive, non-judgemental environment and assistance in remaining in the workforce.

One such NGO is the El Hayet Association for People Living with HIV. Founded in 1998 by Zohira Merah and other Algerians with HIV/AIDS who could not understand society’s rejection of them, the 400-member organisation aims to address the stigmatisation and marginalisation of people living with the so far incurable disease.

[unaids.org] El Hayet Association for People Living with HIV founder Zohira Merah said learning trades and forming co-operatives is "the only way they can escape the discrimination we face".

Merah deplores the systematic exclusion of HIV-positive people in the workplace. "As soon as our employers find out, it's all over. We get sacked for totally invalid reasons. That's why our association offers training workshops to help sufferers acquire skills so they can get back into work. They learn small trades and form co-operatives. It's the only way they can escape the discrimination we face," she explains.

Bowing to the pressures of society and fearful of creating a scandal, many HIV/AIDS sufferers prefer to keep a low profile and some even hide the truth from their own families.

Three years ago, 41-year-old Naoufel learned that he was HIV-positive after going to see a doctor about a skin problem. In generally good health, he felt as if the sky had fallen in when the doctor suggested he be screened. "When I got the results I thought the world was going to end. Why me? I asked myself. How am I going to tell my family? I felt as if I was paralysed with fear."

"There was just one thing on my mind: no one can find out!" he tells Magharebia.

Naoufel worked as a chef until combination therapy prevented him from meeting the demands of his job. "The drugs gradually weakened me and I couldn't carry on working like I used to," he says. "One evening I just cracked. I told someone I regarded as a friend. He told someone else, who told another person and eventually my boss found out. He told me I couldn't continue working for him."

Jobless, but fortunate enough to have the support of his brothers, Naoufel got back on his feet thanks to a pastry workshop set up by the El Hayet Association. He and his colleagues make and sell cakes, taking care not to reveal their HIV status to customers. They only broach the subject at special display sales, where they know they will get a sympathetic response.

While reintegration is difficult for men, it is even more so for women. Judged and shunned by society, they rely on help from referral centres which care for people living with HIV.

Forty-year-old housewife Nadjia was infected with HIV by her husband. He lived in Italy and only came to Algeria twice a year. "I did notice that he was thinner and looked unwell, but I always put it down to poor living conditions abroad. He never told me anything about it and never took precautions when having sex," she says.

Feeling unwell herself, Nadjia saw a doctor who referred her to a hospital for infectious diseases in Algiers. That was where she found out. "I'm not very well-educated, but I knew about AIDS. I didn't think a faithful woman like me who had never slept with anyone other than her husband could catch it," she admits.

Her husband never returned to Algeria after finding out. "My husband, who was the cause of my problems, left me. My family is ashamed of me and I live like an outcast. I'm just waiting to die…" she says, trying to hold back tears. Nadjia left her job when her colleagues began asking too many questions about her health. "I'd rather be penniless than have people pointing their finger at me all the time," she adds.

Nadjia and Naoufel are among 740 known cases of AIDS in Algeria. According to the latest Ministry of Health and Hospital Reform figures, there were 2,092 confirmed cases of HIV in the country during the first quarter of 2007. The illness affects four times as many men than women. Sufferers can receive treatment at the country’s six referral centres in Algiers, Annaba, Constantine, Oran, Setif and Tamanrasset.

Treating the disease is not cheap, however. The average cost of treating an AIDS patient is approximately one million dinars per year. While the Algerian government bears the full cost of treatment, very little is done to help AIDS sufferers maintain their personal incomes through employment.

Laws prohibit employers from firing HIV and AIDS patients because of the illness, but because of the severe taboo surrounding the disease, few Algerians have ever pursued their employers in court. HIV and AIDS patients have little faith that they would win given the government's failure to enforce additional laws requiring employers to cover the medical costs for patients who contract HIV through work.

Attorney Fatma Zohra Benbraham explains that the law on the subject is clear: "Abusive firings are illegal."

"The government has put the legal framework in place," she says, "but the mentality has not changed."