Stigma against HIV infected persons still persists, says Collector

January 13, 2011

Staff Reporter — Photo: E. Lakshmi Narayanan

Fighting stigma:Dr. M. Malliga (left) receiving the leadership award from

Collector S. Madumathi (right) at the international workshop in Namakkal on

Tuesday.

Namakkal: Collector S. Madumathi noted that despite a lot of progress made by

Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TANSACS), along with NGOs, to create

awareness on HIV/AIDS, the present scenario clearly indicated that there was a

need for better awareness on the stigma and discrimination against HIV- infected

persons.

She was addressing the gathering at an international workshop on " Stigma and

Discrimination of persons affected by HIV/AIDS " , organised by Concern for AIDS

Research and Education (CARE) Foundation, here on Tuesday.

Ms. Madumathi recalled her effort to fight such stigma but withdrew due to

circumstances. She said that a woman infected with HIV and deserted by her

family, sought a job to take care of her child. She was appointed as a cook

under the government's Nutritious Meal Scheme.

But the villagers came to know about it and demanded her removal.

" Efforts to create awareness among the villagers that no harm would come to

their children if they consumed food cooked by the woman turned futile as the

villagers threatened not to send their children to the school, " she lamented and

added that normalcy returned only after her appointment order was cancelled.

The Collector assured the district administration's support to fight the stigma

and discrimination against HIV victims.

Professor of Public Health and Director of Jodhpur National University Dr. Joe

said that discrimination against HIV victims and those associating with

them, was multi-faceted.

" Sadly, even some doctors avoided treating persons affected with HIV/AIDS, " he

said and pointed out that " on the other hand, a large section of patients

avoided undergoing treatment from doctors who treated persons with HIV. " Almost

three decades after the virus was detected, it was alarming to note that people

still had misconceptions about the disease, he said.

He said that without teaching people what HIV/AIDS was all about, it would be

highly difficult to eradicate the stigma and discrimination associated with it.

Earlier, the Collector handed over distinguished leadership awards to Dr. M.

Malliga of Namakkal for her efforts in mother-to-child interventions, Dr.

Aiswarya Rao, Joint Director of Basic Services Division of TANSACS, for

counselling HIV victims and fighting the stigma and Dr. Bonnie J. Messer of

Colorado for conducting assessment of HIV to formulate strategies.

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