From shadows to change-makers

HIV+ women lead the way to life of dignity

Challenging stigma and patriarchy, a group of HIV-positive women in Banglore, Karnataka, have created their own success story by reaching out to support positive people in the city and demanding government entitlements like ration cards, medicines and bank accounts.

For most of these women, in their 20’s and early 30’s, it has been a struggle to emerge from despair to make their mark in the community.

“I attempted to end my life. But, today I am living with pride that comes from the work I do by showing way to other women affected by HIV,” says Nagalakshmi.

“Barely a teen (13), I was married to a truck driver. He had AIDS and believed that consummating with a teenager will cure him. He died soon after and I was left with the infection and a positive child,” she adds.

This 24-year-old widow is a peer counselor with MILANA, a family support network of people living with HIV and a long-term ActionAid partner.

Nagalakshmi’s story illustrates how women end up as targets for the worst stigma and neglect that HIV-positive people face on a daily basis.

Emerging from shadows

In a society largely ignorant about HIV and AIDS, announcing you are HIV positive can feel like announcing a death sentence and asking to be ostracized. For MILANA members, the act of sharing HIV-positive status with the family and community is seen as an assertion of identity, a way to break the silence and stigma that too often goes hand in hand with the virus.

“After I told my landlord that I am positive, shockingly his son asked me for sexual favors. They think an infected woman acquires it because she is of ‘loose’ moral bearing,” says 32-year-old Anasuya.

“The very basis of challenging stigma that surrounds positive people is sharing of HIV status,” says 60-year-old Joyti, who sowed the seeds of MILANA. The group started with just five members in the year 2000 now has 300 families.    

In poor communities, where women are denied education and pushed into early marriages, awareness about HIV is virtually non-existent and leaves those affected isolated.

“Being a woman, makes living with HIV more difficult for us. We had no say in our marriage, we had no access to education and single women are seen as misfits,” underlines 24-year-old Chandrika. 

Rights-based approach

“MILANA is solely supported by ActionAid. In the last five years of our association, we have successfully introduced the idea of rights in the vision of their activities,” says Christy Abraham, who leads the HIV/AIDS work of ActionAid.

“We have struggled to claim our dues, ranging from bank accounts to ration cards and from medicines to loans,” adds Meena.

Talking positive

Group discussions and outreach work through a network of 20 peer counselors helps to get people talking about their fears, and hopes.

“We talk about MILANA and the work we do. By extending psycho-social support, nutritional and home-based counseling we reach out to many positive women,” says Meena.

“It could be a public transport, neighbours or any social space, we get talking on the issue,” she adds.

MILANA is an active member of the Bangalore HIV and AIDS Forum and seen as a key player in policy and advocacy on HIV/AIDS issues in the state of Karnataka. The group’s peer counselors, who have been trained by ActionAid, are much sought after for training others engaged in similar work.