Taking medicines on time is a big part of a successful marriage for Ravi and Nima, an HIV-positive couple who met as a direct result of the enduring stigma attached to AIDS in India.Download Link Here
They met through a non-profit marriage bureau in India's western state of Gujarat that caters exclusively to HIV-infected people, setting up introductions and helping with legal issues for couples who choose to marry.
The UNAIDS agency says some 2.5 million Indians are living with HIV, many of them ostracised by their communities.
"My father disowned me when I told him about my disease. I was lonely and needed a companion to live and enjoy the last few years of my life," said 38-year-old Ravi, a shopkeeper who contracted the infection from a sex worker.
His wife Nima tested HIV positive in 2004 when she went for a medical check-up to confirm a pregnancy. She contracted the virus from her first husband who died in 2006.
"I felt cheated and wanted to commit suicide after my husband died but I decided to marry again and work for the widows of HIV patients," Nima said.
The Gujarat Marriage Bureau for People Living with AIDS was the first of its kind when it set up in 2005, but there are now eight similar agencies across India, most of them established by people living with HIV.
In the past four years, the Gujarat agency has arranged marriages for around 300 people.
.jpg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment