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AIDS victim’s widow faces ostracisation

BERHAMPUR: N. Nima (pseudonym) of a village near Hinjli in Ganjam district continues to be ostracised by her family and village as a carrier of HIV although she is not infected by this lethal virus.

Her only fault is that her husband, a migrant worker, had died of AIDS. Her husband and in laws were also blaming her as the reason behind his disease before his death.

Her in laws have taken away her daughter from her.

The irony is that she had never visited Surat in Gujarat, the workplace of her husband, from where he got infected by the virus.

The HIV reaches remote areas of Ganjam district taking the sexual route using the migrant workers as medium. Very few wives of HIV positive migrant workers like Nima are lucky to be not infected by the virus. Yet they are the worst sufferers of social ostracisation .

A study on the lives of HIV prone migrant labourers from Ganjam district in Surat made by Lepra Society and ARUNA has found out very few migrants living with their spouses in Surat although they get married at lower age due to their rural background. .

The study found that most families of migrants never allow their daughters in law to stay in Surat due to concern over their safety and lack of proper living condition.

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