Stigma, Fear or Both?

Few days ago, I had written about AIDS Sutra (2008) - an anthology of stories on AIDS in India. Here are excerpts from “Hello Darling,” a short story by Siddharth Dhanvant Sanghvi. These are essential pieces from Siddharth’s narrative, which I chose for their realistic and documentary content. Of course, the actual story is bigger and more intricate.

On the need for awareness of dealing with long-term HIV- positive individuals:
“(In India) there’s a big NGO/medical structure built around (HIV-AIDS) prevention and testing, and, to some extent, giving first line treatment. But I think the awareness of dealing with long-term positive patients, and all that implies – for example, how to treat them for other opportunistic infections, or surgery that is not necessarily related to their HIV, but is affected by their being poz –is much less here. I certainly know people who have, quite recently, decided to move abroad, and their being poz was very much a factor in their decision.” (2008:68)
On the loathing for lepers and those with HIV:
“Homosexual men with HIV have to combat not only the stigma that attends to their sexual origins, but also their health condition, yet another bridge to have to cross. The disgrace shrouding HIV in India provokes menacing acts of hatred, reserved, in another era, for lepers; and the self-loathing it encourages in the individual is often only a reflection and elaboration of the loathing that society fosters for HIV.” (2008:68)
On stigma, fear and the complex intermingling of the two:
“(…) At ‘bug-parties’ in America, positive men called ‘gift givers’ would bareback – have unprotected sex – with ‘bug chasers’, men who desired to be HIV positive only so that they could finally overcome the constant threat, and terrible doom, of possible infection.” (2008:70)

Each of the above discusses the complex physiological and psychological dimension central to the global AIDS epidemic. It is concerning then to read of AIDS as a manageable disease and HIV as less a threat to survival. I believe there is so much work that needs to be done at all levels – efforts that address not just human sexual health but also the associated stigma, for the two remain interwoven in complicated ways.

India poses a special challenge or should I say a scarier challenge that takes us back in time to the phobia prevalent in the 1980s here in the USA or the dangers endemic to the then social conditions in East Africa. Bigotry and prejudice is rampant in Indian society and barring few, most in the Government too are unwilling to wake up and come-out of their self-constructed caves of ignorance. Stifling laws of the Victorian era are still looked-upon as saviors of Indian morality (whatever that meant). I think it may help to magnify societal ignorance and bring it to world attention. And this book does precisely that and more.

Italicized excerpts from the book: Akhavi, N ed. (2008) AIDS Sutra - Untold Stories From India. NY: Anchor Books.

Smart Condom Campaign

A friend of mine recently sent me a link to this incredible CNN.com news story entitled, "Safe sex ideas that raise eyebrows" by Mehan Holohan in Mental Floss. It highlights five novel campaigns launched by nonprofit organizations in different countries to encourage wider use of condoms. To read the entire article, click here.

In India for example (one of the countries included in the story), The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated money for a national condom ring tone that sings "Condom, Condom." In conjunction, the BBC World Service Trust is producing a mass media campaign to make condoms more socially acceptable by way of improving the image of the condom user as a smart, intelligent and responsible individual. To hear the ringtone and read more about this campaign, visit here: condomcondom.org It is composed by Rupert Fernandes and sung by Vijay Prakash.

Here's a snippet of one of the ongoing commercials of this campaign. The commercial is in Hindi with English subtitles: A cellphone goes off at a wedding reception and it has the most unlikely ringtone of "condom, condom." If you think people are shocked and disgusted, well think again! This is the new age India where most people are seen delightfully endorsing the chant.
Social Message: Condoms signify smart and responsible behavior. Check it out!

"AIDS Sutra" - An Anthology

Writing on AIDS in India is like creating a rich tapestry of human stories from the complex every-day. This is precisely what the book AIDS Sutra, released this October in the US, promises to offer. It is an anthology of stories on HIV and AIDS in a country that is gripping with this epidemic at all levels. The book features a foreword by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, an introduction by Bill and Melinda Gates and essays by 16 contributing writers including Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth, William Dalrymple, Sonia Faleiro, Shobhaa De, Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi, Nalini Jones among several others, each of whom spent time in the field exploring one aspect of the Indian AIDS epidemic. I am on my way to BORDERS to grab my reserved copy. I will update this space soon. In the meantime, to read the editorial reviews, click here.

HIV and OUTreach

Next year, I will be volunteering my time as an HIV-test counselor at the Uni. Health Service. It is now well known that HIV counseling and testing programs have helped people learn and deal with their HIV status better. My interest in the testing program is to help extend this much needed awareness through emphasis on prevention and care, and to address the general misconceptions about HIV risk through counseling and guidance. I am particularly concerned with how the social-self of an individual is affected in the broader dynamic of HIV infection and AIDS.

But let me share with you how it all started. I began learning more about HIV disease after watching a student documentary on sexuality and HIV few years ago. The real-life film entitled "Summer in my Veins" (1999) explored the complicated dynamics of secrecy and revelation around the protagonist’s onetime unsafe sexual encounter with an HIV-positive gay man. Through this, it documented the role of HIV testing and counseling in the "coming-out" process of its protagonist; and weaved together health, social and financial issues concerning this disease.

The film was an eye-opener. I followed it up to know more about the film-maker Nishit Saran, the then student at Harvard. My search led me to this foundation, The Nishit Saran Foundation started and run by his parents in the memory of their brilliant son who soon thereafter, lost his life in a tragic road accident in India. The Foundation today, works in the areas of education, provides support to filmmakers and offers counseling and guidance to parents of LGBTQ identified individuals in India.

It is always heartwarming to hear of stories of human support, love and outreach in a world yet to be fully accepting of "alternate sexuality" [sic], HIV and AIDS. For all this and much more, the efforts of Nishit's parents are truly worthy of recognition and praise.