Bangalore: "I was given separate plates for my food and separate set of toiletry at home and was looked upon in a loathsome manner as if I had done a grievous crime," said Shanti Noronha, vice-president of the Karnataka Network of Positive People (KNP+).

Like many other women living with HIV/AIDS, who are constantly discriminated against by society and family, Ms. Shanti, from Udupi, who was infected by her husband, faced the same kind of stigma when it was discovered that she had contracted the virus.

Through sheer grit, Ms. Shanti managed to overcome this and is living a fulfilling life with her two children, helping persons with HIV/AIDS through her organisation, Deepa Jyothi.

To address this stigma and discrimination that HIV+ women face for no fault of theirs, Breakthrough, an international human rights organisation that uses media and education to spread awareness about issues of dignity and equality, has developed a multi-media campaign, "Ye Kaisa Insaaf Hai?" (Is this Justice?), to bring to public attention the growing incidence of stigma and discrimination faced by women living with HIV/AIDS.

The campaign has been developed free of cost by Oglivy and Mather and includes television and radio spots, outdoor advertising campaigns and print ads in Hindi, Kannada, Marathi and English.

According to studies, 84 per cent of women contract HIV infection from their husbands and partners. Almost 90 per cent of these positive women are thrown out of their homes after their husbands die of AIDS.

"Women suffer various forms of violence and HIV/AIDS has now been added to these problems as they find it difficult to negotiate safe sex or condom use. If they contract HIV, the consequences can be homelessness, increased violence, loss of jobs and lack of access to treatment and care," said Sonali Khan, director, Communications, Breakthrough.

Alika Khosla, associate director, Breakthrough, said the organisation was conducting programmes for trainers in the State and had reached out to 30,000 people. They were also planning awareness camps for college students on HIV/AIDS.

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