KENYAN WOMEN RECEIVE $20,000 COMPENSATION FOR ILLEGAL STERILIZATION

Four women living with HIV in Kenya have each been awarded $20,000 (£16,000) in damages for being sterilized without their informed consent. They have spoken to the BBC about their experiences. The women fought a nine-year legal battle - and their names have been changed to protect their identities, which were not revealed during the case at the High Court. "It has ruined my life," Penda said, about the surgery she underwent shortly after having twins at the state-owned Pumwani Maternity Hospital in the capital, Nairobi. The procedure is called a bilateral tubal ligation (BTL) - when a woman's fallopian tubes are cut, tied, burned, clipped or partly removed, closing them and preventing future pregnancies.