02- Impact on HIV: INP+: India's HIV-Positive People Unite Against Discrimination and Repression

In the face of violence and discrimination, courageous people living with HIV/AIDS throughout India have built a national network to raise awareness of their concerns and contributions, improve care and support for HIV-positive people, and advocate for more enlightened, effective HIV/AIDS policies. . . In the summer of 1998, the people of the city of Chennai witnessed one of the goriest human rights violations ever perpetrated against a person living with HIV in India. A man believed to be HIV-positive and rumored to be attempting to inject people with HIV-infected blood was burned alive in broad daylight by a mob.. . The state health department and local AIDS service organizations (ASOs) could do little to counter the ensuing tide of confusion about how HIV is transmitted and the heightened fear and distrust of HIV-positive people. To Indians living with HIV/AIDS -- the small minority who know their HIV status out of the more than 4 million people estimated to be infected -- this reaction was a sobering reminder of their extreme isolation and vulnerability.. . "Although stigmatization and differential treatment were not new to us, the sheer brutal physicality of this episode suddenly made us realize how oppressive our environment is -- and how fragile our existence," said 31-year-old Ashok Pillai, president of the ...

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