The people living with HIV-AIDS look and feel just like any other person. They are not different. An inclusive society would embrace them, reluctantly if not happily. But when their families stop recognising them, or disown them, they have no option or place to go. More awareness about the disease would help the society to understand it, and be more compassionate while dealing with persons suffering from it. Goa’s own figures reveal that mother-to-child transmissions for the past two years have been negligible, which is a good sign. According to Dr Vandana Dhume, director of Goa AIDS Control Society, Goa has made significant progress in meeting the national AIDS control targets while seeing decline in HIV cases.
Children born to an HIV couple can be negative today. If an HIV positive couple adheres to the life-long treatment, they can go ahead for pregnancy. The couple is given medicines at the ART centres and the new born is given medication right from birth and children can be born HIV negative, explains the doctor.
Anyone who is detected HIV positive need not panic. The person can go to the government ART centres, take lifelong treatment and lead a good life. The Goa AIDS Control Society is maintaining presence across social media platforms to increase awareness and reach. HIV positive individuals are being trained to encourage others to get screened and maintain regular treatment. There are awareness vans for North and South Goa, along with a mascot named Shanu and a 1097 helpline.
Despite these measures, there are still people, especially children, who are deserted. They are left to live or die by their own loved ones. And such children live a miserable life, away from their known homes, or in hostels, orphanages and shelters run by NGOs.
Liza (name changed) is 24 today, but she was just 13 when she found out that she had HIV. “I didn’t understand much then — I just took the tablets because I was told to. It was only as I grew older that the weight of those three letters hit me,” she recalls. Children are innocent. They are naïve. Not knowing what is good or bad, they trust their elderly. It is only when they mature that they start understanding the factual reality, and the hidden meaning of words or actions.
Liza was living with distant relatives, and that’s when the pain really began. She shares, “They treated me like I was dangerous. They wouldn’t eat with me. They refused to share a nail cutter. And one day, they said something that shattered me completely — words that made me feel like I didn’t deserve a place in their home, or in this world.”
Still a kid then, Liza didn’t know what to do and where to go. Who would accept her? And why having some strange illness should make her different, or untouchable, she wondered. “I felt lonely, unwanted, and stressed,” she admits.
But when everybody pushes you aside, you become God’s child. Liza found solace. She gathered herself and her shattered life. Thankfully, she never gave up. “Something inside me kept saying: hold on. You will survive and live to build your own life. So I kept moving ahead, years rolled on. Life took a turn.”
Liza adds, “At 16, everything changed again — I was placed in a care home. But this time, for the better. I met others with the same HIV status. For the first time, I didn’t feel like an outsider. I belonged. For the first time ever, I felt I was home. We talked openly. We supported each other. The care home, aftercare staff, and doctors guided us with patience and kindness. They helped me see that HIV doesn’t define me — my choices do.”
But was that all? “Even today, it’s not easy to share my status with new people. I still worry about acceptance. But I didn’t let that stop my life. I studied hard. I chose a career I believed in. I found a good job. I created a future I once thought I’d never get,” she agrees.
Liza is proud of who she is today. “I’m proud of what I am today — not despite HIV, but because I fought through everything it brought into my life,” she is quick to add. And she wants every young person living with HIV to know this: “We can live a full, normal life. We deserve dreams, dignity, and love. No one can snatch them from us.”
