[Reader-list] POSITIVELY NEGLECTED

[PREETU NAIR]

POSITIVELY NEGLECTED

PREETU NAIR
preetu_nair at gomantaktimes.com

(This article appeared on GT Weekender, Panjim
edition, October 29, 2006)

Women in commercial sex work are seen as agents of HIV
and their clients unwitting victims. But in the
absence of any economic rehabilitation or community
based services, the HIV positive trafficked victim,
the marginalized section of the society, continues to
be commercially sexually exploited. PREETU NAIR goes
behind the obvious and discovers that if HIV/AIDS is
an epidemic of bad choices then it is also an epidemic
of the choiceless and voiceless.

Rehana has just resumed her night job at Vasco after a
brief illness. If luck is smiles she will earn
anything between Rs 100 and 500, from what she calls
the only work she
has. 

And because she and her family must survive, she fails
to insist that the customer to use condom though she
is HIV positive and aware that using condom decreases
the risk of HIV transmission. "Most often we are not
in a position to negotiate safer sex” she said.


When Rehana (one of her many names) was 15, she caught
a morning bus to Goa from Karnataka, along with her
lover. By evening she was sold to a brothel keeper in
the unofficial red light area of Baina for Rs 10,000.
At the age of 23, she tested HIV positive.

Rehana, who till then wanted to live a normal life and
get rid of the world of drinks, diseases, beatings and
neglect in utter disbelief started drinking heavily.”
I began drinking heavily because I knew I was dying.
Besides, I drink to reduce the pain I undergo while
having sex with a customer".


She knows that she can still live well and long, if
she gives up her addiction to alcohol, gutka and
beedis coupled with a careless attitude to medication
and failure to adopt lifestyle changes. But what's
killing her more than the virus is the lack of hope,
the
absence of family and community support, tension and
their poor socio-economic condition.

"I am aware of the community care services for HIV
positive persons, but don’t want to avail them as of
now I don’t want to leave Baina, my home, where I am
not stigmatized and treated differently," she
admitted.

Rehana is not alone. There are many like her who want
to leave commercial sex work (CSW) and live a healthy
life but are unable to as there is no alternative.
However, she added, "If these services are made
available to me at home along with economic
rehabilitation then I would definitely leave CSW and
live a healthy and less painful life".

Living with HIV is not easy. And for a HIV positive
trafficked victim it is a bigger struggle. Despite
their suffering they are rarely able to express
themselves. To survive, majority of
them hide their HIV status.
What is really alarming is that though there is
awareness about risks, use of condoms is low, both
with non-paying and paying partners, thereby
increasing the risk of transmitting the virus. A
Behavioural Surveillance Survey 2003-04 at Baina
showed that only 69 percent used condoms regularly. 

Goa State AIDS Control Society (GSACS) sentinel
surveillance estimates that in 2003, around 30.14
percent sex workers in the state were HIV positive.
However, the real figure would be probably much higher
now.

The United Nations recently reported that that India
with 5.7 million infections has become the HIV/AIDS
capital of the world surpassing South Africa’s 5.5
million. Though there is dispute regarding the number
of infections, no one denies that despite various
attempts the spread of the virus shows no sign of
slowing down.
 

Talking to GT/Weekender, Dr Prakash Kanekar, Project
Director, Goa State AIDS Control Society (GSACS)
admits that they can't afford to be complacent and
need greater commitment to reverse HIV/AIDS epidemic
as the task has become more difficult after Baina
demolition. "It is now extremely difficult to identify
a commercial sex worker”


Even Arun Pandey from Arz, an NGO working with
trafficked victims in Goa, candidly admits that HIV
positive trafficked victims continue to be victimized 
due to lack of community based services and failure of
the state and even NGOs to protect them. Instead of
making them independent we make them dependent. We not
only put their life at risk but also fail to control
the spread of the virus.” Arun added.


Interestingly, majority of targeted interventions
undertaken by NGO's through GSACS among CSWs are
focused on free condom distribution and creating
awareness through peer educators. Besides, GSACS also
funds two community care centres with 10 beds each
–Freedom Foundation in the North and Aasro in the
South – but they are short stay home providing
services required in between a  home and hospital.

However, Ninoshka Norton, Project Coordinator, Freedom
Foundation, admitted
that they have often observed that HIV positive
trafficked victims put on DOTS or ART don't continue
treatment once they leave the home. "Once out of the
home, they go back to their normal routine and start
drinking and smoking. This deteriorates their health
further," she added.


No easy choices

Though it is difficult to describe the predicaments
and circumstances women
in CSW face, GT/ Weekender tries to comprehend a few
of them to better understand their lives and
situations under which they live

ALL ROADS LEAD TO 


The eldest daughter of the family, Surekha was
dedicated to Goddess Yellama as soon as she gained
puberty and brought to Baina by a brothel keeper for
CSW. Three years back she was tested HIV positive and
was also found to be suffering from TB. “I wanted to
leave CSW but there was no alternative. Besides there
is no one to take care of me,"
she said.

Though her CD4 count is low, doctors can't put her on
ART, because she is taking treatment for TB. However,
her TB can't be cured because she doesn't regularly
take medicines.

NO DATE WITH MEDICINES

Madhumita is just back from a date in Mysore. Date
means going out of the state for CSW. She is fully
educated about the pros and cons of HIV, yet hardly
practices what she has been preached.

Two years back when she tested positive, she expected
support from her mard (lover). He was at first
sympathetic but when he needed money, she was back on
the streets. She protested but he threatened. "I
started to go on date, 15 days after I was detected
positive. I was feeling week but then got tired of the
abuses hurled at me by my mard.
When I work, he is happy and there is peace at home",
she reveals. However, what she reveals later after is
much shocking, "whenever I go on a date, I stop DOTS
treatment,"
she admitted

HOME IS WHERE YOUR HEART IS

In a police raid at Baina recently, a HIV positive
trafficked victim was rescued and sent to the State
Protective Home. At that time she was taking DOTS
treatment, but stopped it when sent to the home. Her
condition deteriorated and she started vomiting blood
at the Protective Home. Thus forcing D.C. Kundalkar,
In - charge, Protective Home to write to the Mormugao
Deputy Collector Levinson Martins, "it is not possible
to take care of her and medically treat her in the
Protective Home."

As the medical tests confirmed that she was HIV
positive and suffering from TB, Martins shifted her to
Assro and meanwhile tried to make arrangements to send
her back to her home in Karnataka. But she escaped
from there within a few days and returned to her home
in Baina.

*(Names of HIV positive trafficked victims have been
changed in order to protect their identity) 

** (This story was made possible by a financial grant
from The EU-India
Media Initiative on HIV/AIDS implemented by The
Thomson Foundation)





 
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