We encourage people for HIV testing in a non-coercive environment: Dr. Alexander

23 January, 2013

Dr. Glory Alexander, founder of Asha Foundation - a non-profit organization that works in the area of lowering HIV infections and caring for the infected, talks about the challenges and the impact of her work in India. She believes that no one can influence the life of an infected person, but for every infected person who receives support, that is a life changed.

Dr. Alexander began her career as a consultant physician at Bangalore Baptist Hospital. The catalyst for the establishment of ASHA foundation was an incident when an American who came to India and fell ill and was admitted to a hospital where Dr. Glory was working and she was on his side when he took his last breath. And the reason behind his death was AIDS.

So, in 1998 she started ASHA foundation to create awareness in the community about HIV/AIDS, to provide care and support to the people suffering with HIV, to provide proper medical care to the patients, to provide opportunities to the people suffering with this disease.

The main aim of ASHA foundation is to encourage people for HIV testing in a non-coercive and non-stigmatized environment, to network with non-government organization and to conduct research on the cause and treatment of HIV.

Dr. Alexander has worked really hard to establish the foundation; she has won many laurels for her commendable work. She told Red Bangle: “It’s been a challenge, a real challenge; there have been a lot of frustrations, lots of successes and lots of failures. But, overall I have tremendously enjoyed what I have done, especially when I look at prevention of mother to child transmission.”

She said that somebody even asked her about the 27 million pregnancies affected with HIV, but she could only save one lakh. So has she changed anything vis-a-vis HIV/ AIDS? She replies, “Saving even a single child who could have been infected with HIV makes a difference.”