Aizawl: The plight of people living with HIV/AIDS

[Guest guest]

The plight of people living with HIV/AIDS

NET News Network

Aizawl Oct 4: Living in a civilized society means living with people

with broad minds and broader outlooks, right? Wrong, if contemporary

Mizo society is a civilized one.

One just have to listen to the woes of a person who has been

diagnosed as HIV positive and brave enough to announce this fact to

the society to know that the so-called Mizo people of today's

civilized society is not far from the people of the middle-ages in

their mindset.

Malsawmdawnga, a self-declared HIV positive and president of Mizoram

People Living With AIDS Society (MPLAS) recently implored to the

public during a TV talk show to treat them as normal people and not

to discriminate against them.

" Why can't people who die of AIDS be buried without being packed in

polythene bags? HIV is much harder to contract than hepatitis B the

victims of who are given normal burials. This is so demeaning and

disgraceful for us, " he entreated.

In this day and age and 20 years after HIV and AIDS were first

discovered, there are still some people who believes that the

dangerous virus comes out of the body in search of new hosts when

life leaves that body.

Vanlalmuana, who is known more popularly by his nickname " Kawngtea " ,

is the vice president of another organisation for people with HIV

called Positive Network of Mizoram (PNM). He said the level of

awareness of HIV and AIDS is still so low that even hospital staff

stigmatize them when they learn they are HIV positive.

" Life is really very difficult for us. Once people learn we are HIV

positive, we become outcasts and pariahs. I have many instances of

discrimination to relate. There is one woman whose family a local

NGO had helped set up a small grocery store. When her husband died

of AIDS, she was shunned by the locality where she lived, including

the very NGO that helped them set up a shop, leaving her no choice

but to close down her only means of earning a livelihood, " Kawngtea

said.

This is not the worse part. Even family members and close relatives

shun their own blood when they learn that they are HIV positive.

Another case related by Kawngtea was a woman who was diagnosed of an

early AIDS case when she had to undergo hospitalisation because of

illness. When her family learned of her disease, they told her that

as soon as she is well enough to be discharged from hospital, she

would be admitted to a home. This caused such anguish in the heart

of the woman that she refused to eat food or take medication which

resulted in the quick deterioration of her health. She didn't

survive long.

" HIV positives have been evicted from their homes by their landlords

while some localities have refused to accept bodies of those who

died of AIDS. We are as normal as the next person who has been

diagnosed with some other illness. But we still face discrimination

and stigmatization, " Kawngtea said.

The reason why the Mizo society still fails to grasp reality in

regards to HIV and AIDS seems to stem from the fact that the disease

is still considered to be the " punishment " for drug addicts and

those with loose characters.

Dr K. Ropari, the Project Director of the Mizoram State AIDS Society

(MSACS), is of the opinion that a whole new chapter in creating

awareness is needed in the state.

" We still don't seem to grasp that AIDS is now part of the society

and that everyone is at risk. There is still a strong association of

HIV and AIDS with commercial sex workers and drug addicts as a

result of which we delude ourselves that people living normal lives

would be free of it. While this may be true to a certain extent in

cases of preventive measures, the fact that the virus has embedded

itself so deeply into our society makes us those working in this

area very frightened with the lack of public acceptance, " Dr Ropari

has said over and over again.

A total of 22,426 blood samples - offered voluntarily for testing

(not to be confused with voluntary blood donation) - have been

tested in the state from October 1990 till August of this year. Of

this, 1253 have tested positive for HIV. While the percentage for

this, 5.58, may seem very small, doctors fear that the number of

HIV/AIDS cases may be much more than this and that this figure could

be only the tip of an iceberg.

Said Dr Vanchhawng of Bethesda Hospital here: " In our

hospital alone, we have had many blood samples testing positive for

HIV. However, since rules bind us from informing this to the

patients unless they have voluntarily offered themselves for HIV

tests, we remain silent spectators to a disease that is slowly

enveloping our society. There are so many so-called normal people

that have tested positive for HIV that I fear we may have an

epidemic of the disease in the not too distant future. "

Meanwhile, the Mizo society remains indifferent to the suffering of

the people living with HIV and AIDS, not knowing that the deadly

disease is already among them. Another problem of HIV positives is

the unavailability of treatment and medicine.

A CD4 count - where the blood is tested for the number of the

disease fighting T-4 cell present - is a costly affair and not

available in the state. It is only through this count that HIV

positive people know when to receive treatment such as the ART or

anti-retroviral treatment which is usually a combination of three

medicines and is different from person to person according to the

person's lack of immune cells. Even if the CD4 count is available,

the ART is again beyond the reach of most people as the cheapest one-

month course is about Rs 1600. And once a person receives ART, he

has to continue it till he dies.

Another problem with treatment, which usually aims at extending the

life- expectancy of an HIV victim, is that ART has terrible side-

effects. A long-term treatment of this kind can result in steroid-

related problems as well as liver problems. Actually, the problem of

giving ART to HIV positives doubles when the HIV victim is diagnosed

with hepatitis, whether it is B or C. The victim then has to take

what is called " second line of treatment " which can cost up to Rs

8000 for a month's course.

A sliver of light may be shining for Mizoram's HIV positives in

regard to availability of treatment and medicines as the MSACS would

be installing a CD4 count machine by December of this year in the

state capital. MSACS also hopes to have one machine in each district

headquarters by the end of next year.

Along with this, ART will also become available at nominal cost, if

not free.

However, this is still not enough to alleviate the sufferings of HIV

positives. What they need is understanding and acceptance from the

people. And for the learned to come out in the open so that they can

use their knowledge to help themselves and their fellow HIV

positives.

" We know there are many people with high education who are HIV

positives. They are from such brackets as doctors and engineers. We

need them to come out in the open not only to use their knowledge to

help themselves and us, but to tell the Mizo society that they too

have become victims to this disease. This would help such a lot in

making the society understand and accept that HIV/ AIDS is not a

disease that is confined to sex workers and drug addicts alone, "

Kawngtea said.

http://www.northeasttribune.com/featstory.htm