The Hindu : AIDS: `social stigma an enormous issue'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 26, 2004

Other States

Other States - West Bengal

AIDS: `social stigma an enormous issue'

KOLKATA, JAN. 25. Melinda Gates, who along with her husband and Microsoft Corp chairman Bill Gates has donated $200 millions to fight AIDS in India, visited one of Asia's biggest red light districts on Sunday and discussed AIDS control programmes with commercial sex workers.

She spoke to several women infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, at Sonagachi in the city's north where around 6,000 sex workers live.

As her motorcade entered the crowded district, many children were playing in the streets and men, sipping bottles of rice beer, were gambling on the roadside. In a small hall, sex workers and women health volunteers jostled to put sandalwood paste on Ms. Gates' forehead and garland her. She met about 40 sex workers who discussed their lives, families and children as security guards pushed back a surging crowd of onlookers and journalists. "We live in rat-infested rooms that double as home and work space. We want a better environment for our children where they are not harmed by the effects of our trade," said one woman.

Another woman said her son was ill-treated at school because he was the son of a sex worker. "It breaks my heart as a mother, but I want him to complete his education so that he can become a successful man," she said.

A group of sex workers and their children staged a play for Ms. Gates, depicting violence against women and their exploitation.

Later Ms. Gates said: "They are like all women around the world. They have the same concerns, same values and worries for their children."

The Seattle-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $200 million to help fight the disease in India, where an estimated 4.6 million people, or 0.9 per cent of adults, have HIV or AIDS.

"India hangs in balance so far as AIDS is concerned," Ms. Gates said. She said the biggest problem in fighting AIDS in India was a lack of awareness and social stigma.

``Social stigma is still an enormous issue, but pockets of people are speaking out, and it is fundamental to back them," she said. — AP

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

News Update

Stories in this Section

AIDS: `social stigma an enormous issue'