Nepal: Plight of the HIV- infected migrant workers

[Guest guest]

Plight of the HIV- infected

RUDRA KHADKA/ PUSPA RAJ JOSHI

BAGALEK, Oct 19: Harka Koli is pondering whether or not to send her husband to

India for work, especially after her 34-year-old brother-in-law died of HIV/AIDS

last year.

“However, earning livelihood for the family is not possible without him

laboring in India,†she said.

The village of Bagalek houses 54 families and most of the adult male members of

these families frequent to India to earn livelihood. The trend of going to India

for employment has also been witnessing an increasing number of people dying of

HIV/AIDS. A recent test on people who returned from India and their families

found 20 persons to have been infected with HIV.

The village, which has a 300-strong population, could transpire with an

additional number of HIV-infected persons if everybody is duly tested. “Two

people were found infected during health check-ups for other complaints,†said

Harka. “Symptoms of HIV were also detected on those who were never imagined to

have been infected.â€

Harka, a relatively conscious woman of the village, is aware of health hazards

that are caused by unsafe sex. Every time her husband and another brother-in-law

return home on leave, she advises them not to go to brothels and to abstain from

unsafe sex.

Nearly half of the HIV infected persons at Bagalek are women who contracted the

virus through intercourses with their husbands who returned from India.

Five persons died of HIV/AIDs at Bagalek in 2066 BS (2009/2010) alone. In last

five years, HIV/AIDS took the lives of 20 persons.

“It would be no wonder if all the adults in this village die of HIV/AIDS,â€

said Gaumati Koli, 32, who lost her husband to HIV/AIDS last year. She now has

hard times looking after her four children. Most awfully, she does not know

whether or not she and her children are infected. “I do not have money to get

all of us checked,†she added.

HIV/AIDS is literally spreading like wildfire across Doti district where people,

as in Bagalek, have long been following a social tradition of working in India

for livelihood. Gairagaon, Pokhari and Pachhanali are other prime areas with

high rates of HIV infection among adults and children. At Gairagaon alone, 22

persons have presently made themlselves public as HIV-infected patients.

Eighteen of them are women.

According to Sharada Dhami, who was discarded by her family after her husband´s

death due to HIV/AIDS three years ago, many persons, especially women, are yet

to reveal their health status, most probably having HIV infection. Sharada, who

is HIV-infected herself, has been living in district headquarters working for

HIV awareness campaigns.

According to Redcross Doti, 370 single women, who lost their husbands to

HIV/AIDS, have hard times earning livelihood for their families while 45

infected children are in dire conditions.

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