Up close: Interview with Jahanbi Goswami

[Guest guest]

Up close: Jahanbi Goswami.

Assam Network of Positive People President Jahanbi Goswami discusses

her campaigns for Positive People with Our correspondent. `More

positive people are becoming open about their status'

By Tarannum Manjul, Lucknow, September 5:

You recently held a convention with Positive People from all over the

country in Uttar Pradesh. What do you think about the condition of

Positive People in the state?

We received very good support from the positive community in UP. I

was astonished to see a lot of people coming out and becoming more

open about their status. But nutritional support to Positive People

in UP is still very low and only a few people, who are in touch with

either the UP Network or NGOs working on HIV/AIDS, are getting it. It

is the responsibility of the state government to support nutrition

for Positive People. The number of such people, who cannot afford

this support and also are not in regular touch with NGOs, is quite

large.

What is the situation in Assam?

I realised the situation in Assam is similar to that of UP when it

comes to the issues of Positive People. While UP has four ART centres

for 70 districts, Assam has just 2 for 26 districts. The government

should understand that people, who don't even earn Rs 50 a day and

form a majority of the Positive People, can't afford to go to these

centres, which might be far from their districts.

You have closely observed the services being given to Positive People

in UP? What more do you think could be done for them?

The state government should establish more ART centres, as a large

number of Positive People are from low-income groups and cannot

afford to go large distances to avail of facilities at the centres.

Mobile ART centres could be established for remote places and for

people who don't have access to any support. The state government

needs to ensure proper nutritional support for all Positive People.

How will the HIV/AIDS Bill support the cause of the positive

community in India, especially Uttar pradesh?

The HIV/AIDS Bill not only speaks of giving rights to Positive

People, but also about bringing them into the mainstream. We also

want the state government to involve more and more Positive People,

not just for helping mainstream the community and as peer

counsellors, but also at policy level. Whenever a new programme or

policy is launched for Positive People, the state government should

take advice from the community, which will be able to judge the

situation better.

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