For a very long time the issues around stigma and discrimination of positive persons were known and yet as history has shown, it was time and again conveniently swept under the carpet, only to rise again in a more challenging manner. Habitually, issue of HIV awareness and prevention were the focal emphasizes of the HIV|AIDS campaign; and yet it was grossly inadequate largely because it failed to take into account a society’s response towards acknowledging and taking responsibility in building constructive mechanisms to address the human consequences of HIV|AIDS. This is one of the reasons why the present HIV|AIDS campaign in Nagaland is largely mechanical and virus centric.
The lack of an active presence of the human face in the HIV|AIDS campaign has been the deterring element in the Naga situation. For too long the human issues that emerged out of the HIV|AIDS predicament was ignored, and probably caused the campaign to lack both passion as well as content in the Naga scenario. Having seen the way it functions, it creates the impression that its purpose is limited to one of sheer existence, rather than striving for relevance. Hence, it presents itself as bland and directionless in approach, and inspite of all the resources and well intended efforts, the message is seemingly not quite clear enough, and the virus continues to take its toll on human lives. Unfortunately HIV|AIDS organizations have gotten away with it due to lack of public participation and accountability.
Perhaps for the first time, the discrimination of positive people has come out so publicly, when on August 3, the president of the Positive People’s Foundation was refused medical treatment by a Dimapur based local chemist, on learning that the patient was HIV positive. Such stories of discrimination of positive people for a long time have been confined mostly to meetings and conferences where space has been created to share their experiences. Yet, rarely did these stories of anguish and pain leave the confines of conference rooms. Consequently, the public consciousness remained ignorant and indifferent to the stories of how positive people’s rights were violated due to social prejudice and lack of understanding. Perhaps HIV|AIDS organizations are to an extent also responsible because they are in part also responsible for confining issues of stigma and discrimination within limited spheres of public life.
There has been failure to realise that judicious revelation of stigma and discrimination experienced by positive people is central to the HIV|AIDS campaign, without which the human dimension is missing. The HIV|AIDS predicament therefore continues to raise moral and political dilemmas. The human element of trust is essential to strengthen the HIV|AIDS campaign and unless the questions of stigma and discrimination are acknowledged and addressed, trust remains illusive. The Naga scenario clearly demonstrates this crisis and it is seen quite clearly in the way positive people organizations and non-positive people organizations relate with each other. The power dynamics is quite evident and one can easily discern where the power lies, but unfortunately the politics of economics ensures that the affected people remains marginalized from both the decision making as well as ownership of resources.
One can only hope that humiliating and discriminatory experience meted out to the president of the Positive Peoples Foundation will not be conveniently swept under the carpet. This incidence only reveals the depth of how ignorant the society is about HIV|AIDS. However, perhaps out of this shameful act, something positive will emerge. This incident has created an opportunity for all, particularly HIV|AIDS organizations to realize and understand how important trust building is in this collective endeavor to overcome HIV|AIDS.
The issue of trust however cannot even begin to take place unless there is the genuine will and sincerity to fully engage with the societal and state institutions that perpetuates stigma and discrimination. Considering the seriousness of the issue and the implications that have arisen out of this incident, it remains to be seen how NSACS and other HIV|AIDS organizations respond to this act of discrimination. Their response will probably define their future relationship between positive people and consequently the direction of the HIV|AIDS campaign. It would indeed be tragic if organizations like NSACS and other HIV|AIDS groups fail to make themselves relevant at a time when they are needed to act responsibly and proactively in such situations of discrimination.
