Some 35 women, all grassroots workers with the Bihar Mahila Samakhya Society, attended a training programme conducted by the local Sambad 0612- 275757Helpline, Bihar's only HIV-AIDS counselling service in English, Hindi, Bhojpuri, Maithili, and Patna dialect.

Mahila Samakhya Society, Bihar

Govt. of Bihar

East Gandhi Maidan, Patna 800004

  
    

PATNA: "If you're HIV positive, roadside chaat is definitely not for you," says Usha Devi, firmly. "If anyone in my family is HIV positive, we'll make sure that she drinks boiled water and plenty of it. Even if she looks healthy, she must be protected from any chance of infection," she added.

Usha Devi isn't a doctor, just a neo-literate woman from a village in Purnia. But thanks to a collaborative effort of some NGOs in Bihar, she's equipped with enough basic knowledge and confidence to help HIV positive people and their families battle discrimination.

"Don't hit us with information on how AIDS is acquired. We know that. Tell us what to do when someone has AIDS, how to handle it and how to help," echoed 25-year-old Suman Kumari from Supaul. "We want to know where to get tested, where to get medicines, how to treat these patients at home where there is no hospital," she said.

HIV and AIDS is no longer a remote exotic disease for Bihar's villages and towns. Every day government and private labs handle hundreds of HIV tests and, as a technician from the Kurji Holy Family Hospital (KHFH) put it, "Every week, there's bound to be one or two HIV positive result in the blood samples tested. It's not something rare, like a decade ago. There's more testing, there's more awareness."

Shantwana Bharti, who looks after women's legal affairs at Mahila Samakhya, said, "Every block in Bihar has 20-30 persons who are locally known to be infected. So, it is all the more important how to tell the people to manage HIV and AIDS, because it is ignorance that breeds fear. And this fear leads to violence or the expulsion of the affected person."

Nineteen-year-old Shruti Sinha insisted that she as well as her would-be husband should be tested for HIV. "My parents were shocked. They felt really embarrassed to bring such a subject to the guy's family," she said. On her insistence, the boy agreed that it was the sensible thing to do. Imagine her distress when the results showed that it was Shruti, and not the boy, who was HIV positive. Two years before, Shruti had undergone a blood transfusion at a private clinic. Her AB negative group was rare. So the blood was 'arranged'. The clinic claimed that the blood was 'tested'. "The test shattered my dreams. I wanted to sue the clinic. Here, the legal process is complicated. I was shattered and angry," she said.

Her parents were traumatized. "What we need is information on how to live with HIV, not just how to prevent it," she says. Her father spent lots of money on 'Ayurvedic treatment' for HIV. It was only after a prolonged discussion with AIDS counsellors that he realized that such 'medicines' were no substitute for the antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Shruti is gainfully employed at a call centre in Patna, but she still remains 'in the closet'. "The poor cannot afford to buy ART from private sources. They need a dependable supply, and the supply is often erratic. ART is a complicated regimen and the medicines have to be administered strictly according to time. It is better the family learn how to prolong the 'good health' window of an infected person by simple and balanced diet and avoiding any chance for infection," says Sister Francina, who runs a community care centre for AIDS patients on the KHFH campus.

Bihar is changing, but where's the change in attitude? That's what Shalini, a IInd-year student of JD Women's College asks. The AIDS education programmes are of 1990s vintage. The ground reality has changed, point out experts. For example, the myth about HIV infection from a used razor has long been smashed, because the virus is too fragile to survive outside its medium for more than a few seconds. But people are still told that you can get HIV through 'infected blades'.

Bihar State Aids Control Society needs to tune up. "We need proper access to the ART and more community care centres, not just the so-called Behaviour Change and Information Education Communication. Government must ensure safe blood products, and close illegal blood banks. We need doctors who are supportive, sensitive, and knowledgeable. Many government doctors aren't updated on the latest information. This can be seen from the way they shun HIV positive patients. We need to talk about care, support and life rather than repeat the same tired slogan, 'AIDS kills'. Young people don't pay attention to the same old messages," says Sanjeet Singh, an active member of the Bihar Network of Positive People.

Says Anshuman, a psychology (hons) student of AN College, "Times are changing. India now belongs to people under-30. That's the reality of life. Lifestyle has changed. Condoms and HIV management are parts of life. No use trying to turn the clock back by banning this and stopping that. It's time to deal with it."

(Some names of women have been changed to protect their identity)

  












source :TOI