The Hindu : Fear makes people shun AIDS patients

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 08, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

Fear makes people shun AIDS patients

By Sahana Charan

BANGALORE June 7. Shanti (name changed), who was seven months pregnant, was refused admission in two hospitals even though she was in labour because during the routine check-up, she tested HIV positive.

She was finally admitted in another hospital only because her family did not disclose her medical status to the hospital authorities.

The situation is pathetic because Shanti acquired the virus for no fault of hers: she got it from her husband who had succumbed to the illness.

Twelve people with AIDS, who were being treated by an NGO situated in OMBR Layout in the City, were told to move out of the area by residents and the centre was asked to shift the premises. The reason being that the residents felt that "dying people would affect their psychological health."

Disturbing though it is, this is the stark reality about HIV/AIDS. Though programmes by the Government and voluntary agencies are in place for creating awareness about the disease in the City and the State, discrimination against AIDS patients is widely prevalent.

Prejudice has many ugly faces. While people of a community do not accept an AIDS patient amidst them, it is mostly the educated and upper middle class who are more intolerant, say NGO representatives.

A patient's suspicious landlord even posed as a relative and accompanied him to the doctor's clinic to find out about his illness. He did not want an AIDS patient as a tenant.

"It is social alienation and the fear of AIDS rather than ignorance that drives people to ostracise the patients. They do not want to accept the fact that these patients are part of the community. Weird reasons are given like rentals falling in the locality due to the presence of the patients," Sanghamitra Iyengar, Director, Samraksha, a HIV/AIDS care and counselling centre, told The Hindu.

According to the Task Force Report on Health and Family Welfare 2001, from the first HIV sero positive individual detected in 1988 in Karnataka, the numbers have risen to upwards of 0.15 million. Karnataka is third among States with the highest prevalence after Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

During the early stages of its appearance in the country, the HIV virus was reported to affect mostly the "high risk" groups such as sex workers, their clients, truck drivers, and migrant labourers. Now, the virus is spreading to the "low risk" groups, and women and children are increasingly under threat. The report says that there is evidence of growing vertical mother to child transmission.

"Women are usually vulnerable as they often acquire the virus from their spouses, who indulge in risk behaviour. But sadly, women are more discriminated by the family and community and not provided necessary help. After the husband dies, if the wife turns out to be HIV positive, the family might refuse to fund her treatment," says Glory Alexander of Asha Foundation.

(To be concluded)

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