In the world there are 2.4 million people diagnosed with HIV and 5 million are from India. Additionally, India has a population of 1,252,140,000 people. This is according to Cecilia Van Hollen. Likewise, HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus and AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
The amount of people who acquire it are most often in poverty, are transgender, homosexual, are drug injectors, or are sex workers. The people in poverty contract HIV because they are to poor to afford medicine or they have never heard of HIV or AIDS because they cannot afford little or no education. Furthermore, the people in poverty do not live in the city where people are more aware of the rapid spreading disease. This also means that the disease can travel anywhere without people knowing. However, it is most common in the higher populated cities. Since most Indians believe that they do not have it, when they find out they do, it is a very hard time. Many women and men find out in the hospital when they are pregnant, sick, or when they are getting a blood test. Additionally, HIV in India leads to much stigma especially for women who get it from their husband; however, there is less discrimination for children when the contract it from birth.
The very first case of HIV in India was in 1986 and this was in Mumbai, India. Initially the government did not want to release this information because it would cause a lot of hatred and confusion towards this man. If it was released, it would also cause other countries to insult India. Once the government released the information, they found that many people had HIV or AIDS. One of the main ways people began to find out about HIV was through the Red Ribbon Express. The Red Ribbon Express was a train that went around India and educated the people about HIV and the ways of contracting it. While the train was going around, the government was also traveling through India. Many of the Indian population was tested in the time period of 1987-1992. The specific people they tested were sex workers and drug users. Since India had never dealt with HIV before, they started quarantining and putting HIV positive patients in jail. This also happened because many people did not know how the disease was spread. Later in 1997, the testing was already starting to grow and they had 67 facilities for people to get tested and by 2014 there were 15,000 testing facilities. In 1997, people also began calling HIV uyirkolli noi which means "the killer disease."
As the disease became more relevant, the treatment became more known. In 2005, many clinics began to make their own medicine. However, these clinics were not registered to make their own medicine, but not many people knew that. The medicine that was being handed out was not helping or solving the problem of having HIV. Furthermore, theses medicines were making it worse, since the doctors claimed that you could participate in sexual activity with an HIV positive person while on the medicine. Now that technology has advanced, these clinics are selling authorized drugs and have been helping the numbers of people with HIV. According to the article Avert HIV in India, in 2013 2.1 million people in India we're living with HIV, .3% were adults, 130,000 are related deaths, 36% of Indians are on medication, and there has been a 19% decline in infections.
In India, women with HIV are objectified and taken advantage of in many ways. For instance, as a young child the women are owned by their fathers, then they get married and are owned by their husbands and if their husband dies then they are owned by their brother. In addition, when a woman and her husband have HIV and the husband dies, then the cause of the death is blamed on his wife. Lastly, women have little or no education. Due to the fact that they are not held in high or even equal regard they will never be able to obtain the same resources men can. Furthermore, doctors have told women that they need their husband's permission to get tested for HIV. These women have also become offended because of the publics response.
The women's family members are also against helping solve her disease. Ones relatives could disown her, or leave the family. Relatives and friends of the women have also killed her to keep from contracting the disease. For example, Gugu Dhlamini was stoned to death by her neighbors for being HIV positive. This example was found in the article HIV Related Discrimination. Additionally, as of 2008, 21,483 women were found with HIV in India. Women are most likely to contract it at the ages of 15-59, which is the age women get married.
One does not only contract it from their spouse, but can also contract it from their mother during birth. According to Cecilia Van Hollen, as of 2010, 39% of women in India had HIV and 3.5% of children had contracted HIV. Worldwide, 2 million children must live with HIV. 90% of children receive it from their mothers during pregnancy, during the birth process or when breastfeeding. Since there are so many infected children, the orphanages become overwhelmed because most parents disown their children. As of 2010, 170,000 infected children were staying in orphanages.
If the parents decide to keep the child, then the family and child face complications. For instance, the mother will be blamed for the child's issue. It can also lead to the child never being married off (if a daughter), or to the child being bullied. Often families do not want to pay for treatment, so no one will know that the person has HIV.
The people of India have rejected and stigmatized or discriminated against their community members. The community rejects homosexuals, drug users, sex workers, and migrants. People are afraid of these people and are afraid of contracting HIV, so many will go into hiding, commit suicide, or euthanize themselves. The 4 main parts of stigmatization are the problem, the person or group targeted, the amount of stigma, and the response. This is what causes the people of India to hide or refuse to discuss the issue at hand. HIV and stigmatization can brand the family with a certain name. Their are also many rumors in India as to how one might contract HIV. These rumors include: mosquito bites, shaking hands, living together, and sharing foods. This belief can also contribute to relatives leaving the family.
In India, the public are not the only people who discriminate, the hospitals and doctors also discriminate. Most hospitals dislike treating patients with HIV and many hospitals will transfer the patient to a public or cheaper hospital. The patient is also humiliated by having a sign on the room door that says "HIV positive patient". Once the patient has left the hospital the public usually knows that they have HIV. One is then said to be disgraceful, is associated with the poor and is punished for having HIV. The community may also shun or ignore you because they are afraid of the disease because it is life threatening, and they also believe that you will act differently, and they believe that you are being punished by thee gods for committing a sin.
The stigmatization, in India, is significantly more for women; however it still occurs for children, but it is not as likely. In conclusion, the health organizations and the government are trying to put an end to the harsh discrimination and stigmatization against those with HIV. However, the government must make laws in support of curing HIV and that is extremely hard since there are so many myths and rumors about HIV. The government is also working with clinics to create support groups for the women to attend. As of 2013, the government is taking action through blood safety, awareness programs to reduce spread, promotion of condiment use, educating and communicating with the rest of India about HIV, care and support, and workshops for training the public. The government is also working on creating tighter laws, interventions, counseling and testing, limitations on prostitution, who can travel and who can buy certain drugs. In addition the government refuses to accept HIV positive people into certain jobs as it is a hazard to the public and in certain cases they have isolated people who have contracted the disease. Lastly, some clinics have created games to educate the public with games they already now how to play. Please see Graph 1.
The National AIDS Control Program (NACO) had helped clinics create projects and programs to help HIV as a whole. NACO themselves are creating awareness and are creating support groups for women and men to attend if they have HIV or AIDS. One of the many projects and programs is Project Pehchan. Project Pehchan was launched in 2010 and is trying to stop the HIV epidemic and has also created support groups for transgender Indians with HIV to attend. Second, is Project Arahan, this project helps reduce transmission, tries to help those going through behavioral changes, promotes condom use and is creating awareness for condoms and HIV. Third, is the Sonaguchi Project, his project has created peer educators, they hand out free condoms, and they are introducing people to health clinics. Last, there is Project Kaviach, this project stops the spread of HIV through tripuck drivers and sex workers, and they also are enforcing people to find other hobbies and jobs.
In conclusion, India has had a bumpy road for HIV and AIDS. Sadly, HIV will never fully be eradicated. However, many countries have been able to lower the amount of cases of HIV and AIDS