Post News Network
This is the fifth and last of a series of stories on
challenges in treatment of HIV and AIDS and associated stigma in the society and health-care institutions as observed by our reporter Manish Kumar
BHUBANESWAR: Working from a small office in a three-storied building in Nayapalli, Biswa Bhushan Pattanayak, project Manager of SAATHI (Solidarity & Action Against the HIV Infection in India), has been associated with ‘Project Pahchaan’ which has set a goal to generate awareness among high risk groups about the viral disease and ways to prevent its infection.
“We work with high risk groups like transgenders, hijra community and men who have sex with other men. Members of such risky groups need proper education about the hazards. We have been screening films on such issues, having direct communication and other means to change the attitude of such groups and also the society,” Pattanayak told Orissa POST.
Such training and communication, according to Pattnaik, help bring attitudinal change in society. “Often, we go to villages where we screen films. We elicit reactions of villagers after the film show. We have seen change in their mindset. We ask simple questions like ‘‘would you buy a vegetable from a vendor who is HIV positive.”
Another inspiring person
Orissa POST spoke to was Sushmita Sahoo who has been working with the Kalinga Network of People Living with HIV. She is associated with people living with HIV. Her work involves direct advocacy of issues related to them with the government and healthcare institutions. With the support of her organisation, she has been intervening in cases of social stigma and discrimination.
When asked if she gets perturbed seeing the overall fear among people towards the disease, she said, “Not at all. I have been working with HIV positive people for long. I do share food, living space and often engage with them in counselling. We exhort them to stick to their treatment cycle. I believe, like doctors treating them also need to be friendly with them.”
Like people working in Bhubaneswar, there are many in other parts of the state who have dedicated a big part of their life fighting for the rights of people living with HIV. Loknath Mishra, a veteran fighting for HIV rights from Gopalpur in Ganjam district for the past 21 years, is the founder of a children’s shelter in Gopalpur which works for kids living with HIV. The shelter was set up with the support of erstwhile Ganjam collector V Kartekeyan Pandian, now private secretary to the chief minister.
Overwhelmed by the support Mishra and his institution have been providing for kids with HIV, he said, “All kids living in the shelter home are attending schools. It would have been difficult for them to go to schools had they resided in their locality with HIV status. We fought for the issue and ensured the kids live a dignified life without discrimination. They play with each other after school and adequate care has been taken for them.”
Besides private interventions, Orissa government seems to have taken some measures to tackle HIV. The state is among the few in the country which covers people with HIV under some pension scheme. The state government covers people with HIV under its Madhu Babu Pension Yojana.
