Manipur: All is lost, but all is not lost

[Guest guest]

All is lost, but all is not lost

Nearly one-sixth of the 20,000-odd cases of reported HIV-positive

people are women in Manipur, a majority of them having acquired the

dreaded virus from their husbands. But they are not giving up on

life, writes Nitin A. Gokhale from Imphal

Meimtombi, 25, wanted to end her life when her husband Khagen died

three years ago. Khagen, a driver, died of AIDS after years of drug

abuse. But before he died, Khagen had infected his wife with the HIV

virus and left her with a two-year-old daughter, Brojeshwari, also

diagnosed as HIV positive. Hence, despite a double stigma of being a

widow and an HIV positive person at that, Meimtombi was left with no

option but to find work to support the two of them. However, a

decade ago Meimtombi would have been condemned and ostracised. Not

anymore: because she is not the only woman who has been infected

with the HIV virus via her husband.

In Manipur, nearly one-sixth of the 20,000-odd cases of reported HIV-

positive people are women, a majority of them having acquired the

dreaded virus from their husbands. But thanks to a growing awareness

in society and concerted initiatives taken by several NGOs, many

brave women are no longer afraid of declaring their HIV-positive

status.

Take Meimtombi's colleague Imotombi, barely 26 and mother of three

children. Her husband, a carpenter, infected her with the HIV virus

and is now on his deathbed. Finding no other alternative but to

support the family, Imotombi stepped out of the house and is today,

along with Meimtombi, part of a group of 60 HIV-positive women who

work at the Integrated Women and Child Development Centre (IWCDC) in

Imphal to earn their livelihood. Says Annie Mangsatabam, secretary

of IWCDC: " Earlier, these women were doubly stigmatised for being a

widow and for being HIV-positive. But today, they are not afraid of

proclaiming their status; they are even ready to face the camera.

The resilience shown by them in taking life and society's prejudices

head-on is remarkable. "

IWCDC has played a small but significant part in liberating women

like Meimtombi and Imotombi. Under IWCDC's guidance, HIV/AIDS-

affected women have formed a self-help group called Apunba Pangalni

to impart skills. Says Imotombi, " We run a small catering business,

do a lot of knitting, make special Manipuri bridal wear (for hire

and sale) to earn our livelihood. We make enough money to have a

corpus fund and a small amount of money is set aside for giving out

loans to our members. "

More importantly, the members of the Apunba Pangalni are now

torchbearers of a new movement that empowers HIV-positive

women. " When these HIV-affected women go around and spread the

message that being HIV-positive is not the end of the road and that

one can still lead a normal life, there is instant acceptance among

all sections of women, " points out Sandhya Mangsatabam, a counseller

at the IWCDC.

Activities of IWCDC and a couple of other NGOs in empowering women

have become a necessity because of the changing nature of HIV/AIDS

transmission here over the years. For instance, from a situation

with the highest concentration of HIV-positive patients because of

injecting drug users (IDUS), Manipur is fast acquiring the

reputation of being a state that may have the most number of women

HIV/AIDS patients.

Officials of the Manipur AIDS Control Society (MACS) say that the

prevalence rate among the IDUS in the state has gone down to 21

percent in 2004 from an all-time high of 72.78 percent in 1998 but

during the same period the prevalence rate among pregnant women has

gone up from a mere 0.45 percent in 1995 to an alarming 1.66 percent

in 2004.

Says Dr Priyo Kumar, Unicef consultant, who is working with

MACS: " Our greatest concern these days is the rising rate of mother

to child transmission in Manipur. This is a serious cause for

concern because the transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother-to-child

means that the epidemic is spreading among the general population

and also infecting new-born babies who inherit the virus from their

parents for no fault of theirs. "

Some NGOs feel that the planners and policy-makers are concentrating

too much on IDUS as a cause of infection. " The real reason why

HIV/AIDS is spreading is because infected men are infecting women

and vice-versa and through cross marriages and casual sex. When

people are under the influence of drugs and alcohol, a lot of casual

sex happens, " points out an anti-AIDS activist.

Easy availability of drugs in Manipur is not surprising since the

state is next door to the `golden triangle' — the border areas of

Thailand, Myanmar and Laos — and the purest grade of heroin, locally

known as No. 4, is supplied to North America and Europe through

various routes passing through Manipur.

A lot of heroin from the golden triangle passes through Manipur

every day to the markets of US and Europe. Some of it, say

government officials and anti-AIDS activists, gets left behind in

the state, creating in its wake drug addicts at all levels of

society — from the teenaged student to a married man; from a young

girl who does it for kicks to a wife who gets addicted because of

her husband's addiction.

Small, laudable efforts of organisations like IWCDC notwithstanding,

Manipur has a long way to go before it can control the HIV/AIDS

affliction plaguing the state. Till then, the struggle of the

valiant women is a pointer that all is not lost.

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