Going places a new way to battle HIV

July 5, 2007

5 Jul 2007, 0406 hrs IST , Shishir Arya , TIMES NEWS NETWORK

NAGPUR: Flying abroad to attend international seminars, taking

management courses in premier institutions and holding top posts.

People in the city diagnosed with HIV are now going places—a new way

of battling the deadly disease.

Last month, a patient from the city visited Stockholm to attend a

global meet on HIV/AIDS. The 23-year old woman, Rama (name changed),

also claims to be the only HIV positive person in the entire world to

attend this seminar held on June 4 and 5. The delegates from

participating countries had assured to bring an infected person

along, but it was only from India that Rama attended the seminar as a

patient herself. Unfortunately, she was not able to make the

presentation in the meeting as her flight was delayed and by the time

she could make it to the venue, the time slot allotted to her was

over.

The meet—ASEM workshop on HIV/AIDS—was organised by Asia Europe

Meeting (ASEM). This is an international forum with members from the

European Union and ASEAN, and takes up various issues like AIDS.

Her trip was sponsored by MAMATA another organisation working for HIV

patients. " What's worse, the mother of one was facing several other

problems too. Her plight as well as the confidence she has got

contributed to her selection for the seminar, " said Aasha (name

changed), who is also HIV positive. Both of them are members of

Sanjeevani, a city-based organisation started by HIV positive

persons.

When contacted, Rama said though she could not make the presentation

the seminar exposed her to a whole new world. A gesture by a woman

photographer in the seminar deeply moved her. " It was shivering cold.

Though she knew that I am an HIV positive person, the photographer

took off her coat and made me wear it. This is one gesture which I

would have, probably, not experienced back home, " she said.

Back in India, Rama plans to implement the Swedish approach to

tackling the disease. According to this approach, if a person is

found infected, then the doctors track down all his partners to find

out if others have been infected too. This system helps in containing

the disease to a great extent, she said.

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