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Positively Neglected
By Preetu
Nair
05 November, 2006
Countercurrents.org
Rehana
has just resumed her night job at Vasco, in Goa state, India,
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 article
appeared on GT Weekender, Panjim edition, October 29, 2006)
Original link: http://www.countercurrents.org/hr-nair051106.htm
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