FOUR YEARS AGO, Mangabhai of Gujarat found out he was HIV positive. The first thought on his mind was: “I am going to die.” He sold his house and his wife’s jewellery for treatment. The first-line ARV (access to antiretroviral) combination treatment is showing no result and causing side-effects. While on the one hand, Mangabhai has to travel to Ahmedabad for his treatment, on the other, he is hugely discriminated against.

 

Mangabhai is not the only one facing the hardship of being an AIDS patient. L Haojagin from Sonepat district in Manipur has a similar story. He is facing the triple problems of social discrimination, lack of financial resources and dearth of qualified doctors in Manipur to treat his affliction. Whenever he makes around of the hospital, he has to put up with the scorn and abuses of the hospital staff and helpers.

 

“We travel about 300 km from the Sonepat to Imphal for the treatment, which is very expensive,” says Haojagin. “Apart from paying for the medicines,  staying and commuting drains whatever little I have,” continues Haojagin.

 

There are many like him who do not and cannot come out of the HIV shadows. Forced into a situation of penury and discrimination, many HIV-positive persons are driven to suicide.

 

“I used to think I am the only unfortunate person in the whole of Uttar Pradesh infected with HIV,” says Naresh. Today, at least 4 lakh people are infected with HIV in this state alone. Owing to lack of awareness and huge discrimination, no one is ready to accept it. The governments are getting into the politics of high prevalence and low prevalence state. The truth is an HIV-positive person is HIV positive. Only because there is low prevalence in a particular state, “it does not mean that the attention and facilities provided should not be adequate. ”

 

Non-profits are trying to create an awareness, but a lot remains to be done. Positive People’s Association network of Manipur has been able to enroll 250 HIV positive people. “Though we know the number of HIV-infected are a lot more, people don’t want to come out because of the discrimination.”

 

Pregnant HIV-positive women are unaware that with medicines it is possible not to pass on the virus to their child. The second line ARV medicines are extremely expensive. They are unaffordable. The government needs to do something about it. The first line was discovered 20 years ago. “Have there been no discoveries in the last 20 years in India?” asks Naresh. First line ARV causes a lot of side effect.”

It is wake-up time for the central government with India sitting on the AIDS volcano.