Karnataka - Mangalore   

`Hype about AIDS creating fear psychosis'

Staff Correspondent

`While many have lost their jobs, there are instances where HIV infected people have been denied their share of property'

MANGALORE: Observing World AIDS Day every year on December 1 is merely promoting insensitivity and instilling fear among people in the guise of creating awareness about the disease, Veenadhari, Rajyotsava awardee and convener of Karnataka Positive Women and Children's Network (KPWCN), has said.

In an open letter, copies of which were released to the media on the eve of World AIDS Day here on Wednesday, Ms. Veenadhari said that for the past 20 years, the notion that "HIV is AIDS and AIDS is death" has been propounded by vested interests for all the wrong reasons.

This has led to deterioration in the socio-economic conditions of HIV patients and their family members, she added.

Dwelling on the reactions created by the fear psychosis owing to negative publicity, she said families with HIV-positive people are falling apart, couples are getting divorced, women are becoming widows while men are losing their self-confidence and resorting to suicide.

Many HIV positive people have distanced themselves from society fearing persecution, she said. Many have lost their jobs on this count. There are also instances where HIV infected people have been denied their share of property, she said and added that this has led to a state of medical untouchability.

Ms. Veenadhari sought the implementation of the resolutions adopted at the first-ever national convention of HIV-affected people held in Bangalore in October. She said the inverted and crossed red ribbon denoting AIDS should be dispensed forthwith for it conveys the wrong message.

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