India: Ganjam's Prejudice Turns to Pride

This Women's Feature Service (WFS) piece looks at emerging positive changes among HIV-positive women in the high-migration Ganjam district of Orissa in India. Author Manipadma Jena celebrates the fact that HIV-positive widows are declaring their positive status and helping in campaigns and among collectives to spread awareness about the epidemic. Reportedly, their community - initially having kept at a distance due to stigma - "is now not just accepting them but helping them and their children."

By sharing the experiences of several HIV-positive women, Jena explores the way in which the face of the HIV epidemic - increasingly younger, rural, and feminine - has become a "story of sensitisation". For instance, Koma Mohanty, 35, "is on the brink becoming a full-blown AIDS case. Yet...she is the perfect example of courage..." As Jena details, Mohanty (who is pictured above - photo credit: Manipadma Jena / WFS) contracted the disease from her husband, who had migrated from their village in search of more lucrative work. When he passed away, no one in the village reportedly came forward to help cremate the body for fear that they would "catch" the infection. After her husband died, Koma tested positive in November 2006; a few days later her eldest son killed himself after having been hounded by villagers for supposedly carrying the virus. At school, her other 2 children were isolated and later had to drop out. Health workers at the Bhatakumarada Public Health Centre "would keep her waiting for hours, refusing to attend to an HIV-positive patient. Broken in mind and body, Koma, too, contemplated ending her life and also that of her two remaining children."

According to Jena, it was the activism of one individual - Krushna Chandra Das, the school headmaster and also Koma's neighbour - that was central in Koma's case in turning the tide of public perception. In an effort to condition the community to accept her and her children, Das called a special parent meeting at the school and asked Koma to light the ceremonial inauguration lamp. Teachers and parents protested, but Das persisted; in 2 months time, Koma's children rejoined school. Thus empowered, Koma today leads HIV/AIDS awareness rallies in neighbouring villages and schools and speaks at the meetings of self-help groups (SHGs), where she focuses on the wives of migrant workers. Jena suggests that members of these groups "are finding a sense of self worth in information sharing..." Sandhyarani Mohanty, president of Maa Santoshi SHG, says they have a regular slot at each monthly meeting to talk about HIV/AIDS - its impact and how to prevent it.

Another profile Jena includes here is that of Dr. Bishnu Prasad Mohapatra, Ganjam District Nuclear Officer, who "admits that earlier an HIV-positive pregnant woman would get no health service and that even today he has to sometimes counsel and argue for hours to get reluctant health personnel to treat an HIV-positive patient. Yet, he feels optimistic. Ever since he shared his mobile number at a recent training programme on Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission (PPTCT) of HIV/AIDS for Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA), 'Anganwadi' workers and Ancilliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs), he has been receiving calls seeking information and clarifications. Going by the number of telephonic queries he gets, Mohapatra believes that the health workers are implementing the concepts learnt at the training."