State decides to back HIV positive weddings
March 2nd, 2010
By DC Correspondent , DC Correspondent
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/state-decides-back-hiv-positive-weddings-470


Hyderabad, March 1: HIVMarriages, a marriage bureau for people who are HIV positive, was the first of its kind in the state when it was set up in 2008. There are now eight such agencies across the country, most of them established by people living with HIV.

In the last two years, the marriage bureau has arranged marriages for about 70 people and another eight are waiting for auspicious days in the month of April to tie the knot.

Shunned by family and society, many HIV positive people in the state have chosen to marry a fellow HIV affected person.

A former HIV positive network activist is promoting this cause. Inspired by the success of the marriage bureau, the state government has decided to do its bit to encourage such “positive marriages.”

“We are planning to extend incentives to HIV positive marriages on the lines of inter-caste marriages,” said Mr R.V. Chandravadan, the project director of the AP State Aids Control Society (APSacs).

The government can’t run a marriage bureau, but it can take the help of NGOs to provide necessary help to the affected people, he said.

The demand for such a service is so great that the AP Legislators Forum for HIV positive people recently demanded that the government set up a marriage bureau in the district headquarters so that HIV positive people can lead a normal life.

There are 84,797 HIV positive people in the state with more than 70 per cent falling in the age group of 25-49 years. Most of them are widows who lost their husbands to the dreaded infection.

For the people who register, marriage with a fellow HIV carrier provides not just companionship, but also a practical base for dealing with the illness, including mutual monitoring of medication and sharing the cost of treatment.

Doctors working in the field say that marriage between those infected can help prevent the spread of the virus. Complete information about the person’s health and economic status will be provided to the interested so that they could take a rational decision.

“Everything should be clear before the wedding. We provide counselling sessions to ensure that the couple is mature enough to handle health-related problems,” said Mr B.S.H. Prasad of HIVMarriages.