Tamil Nadu school slams doors on HIV positive orphans, says it’s risky – argues if the children fall on or bump against others, they will pass the infection…
But – the article says – the real worry is about other children leaving. And such occurences of discrimination are common…
So much for communication efforts aimed at creating awareness and removing stigma attached to HIV. And this in Tamilnadu which has some of the better developed tracking and intervention systems in the country (Tamilnadu incidentally also has the highest prevalence of AIDS in the country – but this might just be a function of better monitoring and the patients’ willingness to disclose – and Dindugul is one of the HIV hot-beds of India).
Recent efforts in Tamilnadu include the ‘condom on wheels’ project, an attempt to make retailers overcome inhibitions about selling condoms (imagine the magnitude of the task at hand – breaking inhibitions not just on the part of the buyer / user but the seller as well) and the information dissemination through barbers idea. Many Indian men are too embarrassed to buy condoms at a drugstore or to talk freely about sex with health counselors and family members. There’s one place where they let down their hair: the barbershop. So, the state of Tamil Nadu is training barbers to be frontline soldiers in the fight against AIDS, says this report in WSJ.
However it seems like such efforts have not managed to even chip at the stigma – or myth – barrier… If this continues, will we start seeing a sharp decline in reported cases of HIV in Tamilnadu also?
Update : This post by Kalpana Sharma on india together is about HIV and gender – if a woman who has been infected by her husband passes on the virus to her child, she is stigmatised and blamed. And if the infant happens to be a boy, then the woman is considered even more of a villain. And as the article says, this is when the woman may have (in all likelihood) contracted the infection through her husband – either unknowingly – or worse, in a situation where she is aware but without a choice or a voice to abstain from sexual relations or insist on protection…
I think, sadly, no matter where you are, there are problems like this. People think it’s wrong and can’t talk about it, or they are ashamed, or think it can’t happen to them. Sometimes even having a friend or family member become affected doesn’t wake them up when it should. Hopefully one day there will be a vaccine if not a cure- even at 50% reliability, it would be better then what we have now, which is virtually nothing.
true Debra, discrimination against HIV affected patients is not restricted to only this country – but things are especially bad here because of the myths people hold true – and also the strong associatioin of sex- promiscuity – with AIDS…
there have been vaccine trials going on for a long while now – but looks like it will be a while before anything safe and effective enough will hit the market…
Charu….TN really has very motivated NGO groups (Dr. Suniti Solomon ofcourse is very well known) as well as a fairly responsive government (Jayalalitha for all her negatives is very supportive of anything involving womens issues), so the campaign is likely to be much more sustained and successful here. But i really am more scared of other states, which don’t even acknowledge that AIDS is a problem.I think over time TN will be quite successful in combating AIDS…not so sure about other states…..
glad to have found my way over (via dilip’s). you’re on my favourites update now 🙂
you are right sunil – that is what is scary – if in a state like tamil nadu, people have such notions and the stigma is so strong, i cnanot imagine what other states are like – say AP or Rajasthan, for instance. remember the article I had blogged about which said that Bihar has zero reported cases of the virus – that is truly scary – being ostrich-like is not going to do any good….
Thanks, Annie – I have been visiting your blog for a while now – have even left a tentative comment or two – and often envy you for being out there on the field and meeting people whose lives are so different from ours…
(have also left a hi for you on ryze)
I guess it all boils down to the implementation of Law & Order in the country.Most of the schools in india have so much power in terms of who gets admitted and who doesnt and what they teach.They are autonomous to the point of infringing on the human rights of students(reminds me of the caning i have seen while growing up in schools).We can only hope campaigns like “Pulli Raja” will make these people more civilized towards victims instead of scaring them away!Thanks for sharing!
I think ‘human rights’ as an idea does not exist in India – as for children’s rights, the less said the better but the worrying part about such incidents is that communication programs seem to be having little impact on people…