Kerala: AIDS/HIV stigma: CM convenes meet today

[Guest guest]

AIDS/HIV stigma: CM convenes meet today

By M. Dinesh Varma

HIRUVANANTHAPURAM APRIL 22. The Government is having a serious

rethink at the effectiveness of the AIDS/HIV awareness programmes

being launched in the State, which is housing an estimated 70,000 HIV-

infected individuals, according to current estimates.

Partly contributing to this urgency on the part of the Government to

reassess AIDS/HIV awareness programmes and revise strategies to

remove the stigma has been the incident involving siblings who were

denied their fundamental rights because of their HIV status.

The pair, Bency (7) and her brother Benson (5), along with their

grandparent and a Kollam-based NGO, had staged a dharna in front of

the Secretariat recently to attract Government attention to their

plight.

Quite shockingly for the Government, and what eventually led to a

perpetuation of trauma for the siblings, even official instructions

to get the children, admitted to a school in their neighbourhood in

Kollam town, met with stubborn resistance from the parents of other

children in the same institution.

In fact, the Chief Minister, A. K. Antony, has convened a high-level

meeting on Wednesday to discuss various aspects of the issue.

As many as 72 NGOs, including religious leaders of various

communities, are expected to attend the meet, which would primarily

focus on ways to dispel the social stigma that hounds victims of

HIV/AIDS, sources said.

Though this has not been the first instance that HIV/AIDS awareness

was not being reflected in social attitudes towards such victims

among a literate, but, health-conscious population, the virtual

ostracism that the siblings had to undergo, has served to focus the

attention of the authorities on the stigma that continues to hound

HIV/AIDS victims.

Such instances have also raised serious doubts over whether messages

propagated constantly as part of the information, education and

communication (IEC) programmes of the Kerala State AIDS Control

Society have indeed percolated to the grassroot-level perceptions

about HIV/AIDS and its victims.

The State is currently mid-way into the second phase of implementing

the National AIDS Control Programme (1999-2004). According to

sources, the attempt of the meeting convened by the Chief Minister

would be to try to increasingly involve community participation to

shape a positive response to HIV/AIDS victims.

The official imperative also reflects the urgent need to step up the

HIV/AIDS awareness campaign in a State like Kerala, where awareness

has not been found to match social attitudes towards unfortunate

victims of the deadly disease.

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