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 There are 3.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS in India (NACO). Contrary to earlier belief, HIV is no longer an illness restricted to homosexuals, truck drivers and women in prostitution. It is today an epidemic that has spread to the general population and has affected people of different socio-economic strata and caste.
HIV can result in multiple losses, both direct and indirect. Some of these are loss of livelihood, support from friends and society, including family members. When the virus strikes those whose lives are already beset by poverty and hardship, people find it difficult afford treatment or life-prolonging medication and are further impoverished. Persons testing HIV positive also experience recurrent bouts of anxiety, mental trauma, and depression.
In the year 1994/95, CCDT’s Health Post in the red light area of Kamathipura saw a number of women from the brothels falling ill intermittently and constantly. Several women, when tested, were found to be HIV positive. The first to feel the repercussions of the epidemic were the children of these women. Not only did the children face stigma and discrimination, they also had to suffer the anguish of their mothers dying and leaving them abandoned or with fragmented families. Most of these children felt deprived of their childhood. Forced to abandon their studies, they frequently assumed adult roles and responsibilities. The difficult circumstances in which these children lived exposed them to unimaginable abuse and exploitation and put them at risk to HIV/AIDS.
It was in this climate of fear experienced by the women and children to the unknown illness of ‘AIDS’ that CCDT started the first home-based care project; moving beyond “prevention” and focusing on care and support.
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Source: http://www.avert.org/aidsindia.htm
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