The Hindu : Living with HIV

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 01, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

Living with HIV

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Nov. 30. Bindu states boldly that she has been Human Immuno Virus positive for the past seven years and that she leads as normal a life as anybody else. She is voicing the agony and torment of hundreds who are denied dignity and respect because of their HIV positive status.

The general secretary of the Council of People living with HIV/AIDS in Kerala (CPK+), Bindu, was here on Sunday to participate in a media workshop on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome organised jointly by the Kerala AIDS Control Society, the United Nations Development Fund and the Kesari Memorial Trust.

"The visibility of HIV positive people like me should increase so that we can send out a positive message to society on living with HIV/AIDS. But for us to come forward, we need a lot of support and empathy from our friends, family and the public," says Bindu. The organisation was set up in 1999 by Bindu and a few others like her to bring together those afflicted by HIV and to help them lead normal, productive lives in society.

"There are routes other than risky sexual behaviour through which one can contract the HIV virus. But somehow, people tend to look down on all HIV positive persons as those who have contracted the disease through the sexual route. At CPK +, as a policy we do not ask our members how they got infected. Marginalised as we are, we do not want further segregations among ourselves," says Bindu.

She discovered that she was HIV positive three months after her marriage in 1996. Her husband had been HIV positive, but had believed himself cured of the disease after he took `anti-AIDS' drugs prescribed by a practitioner in Ernakulam.

Bindu decided to take the initiative to organise a network and support system for HIV-afflicted pesons after the death of her husband in 1999. "I was lucky to have the full support of my family and friends, which gave me the courage to blow the lid on my HIV positive status. Recently, I got re-married to another HIV positive person and we lead a normal social life," she said.

Bindu feels that there is a lot of negative portrayal of HIV/AIDS through the media and even in awareness campaigns.

"It is a devastating disease but there are anti-retroviral medicines today, which can help HIV positive persons lead a normal life for several years," she points out.

There have been several instances of hospitals and doctors refusing treatment to HIV-infected persons. Some doctors openly write the patient's HIV positive status on prescriptions, which lead to social ostracism of the person.

"In these circumstances, how can you blame them for not revealing their HIV positive status," Bindu asks.

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