Tag Archive for: Vihaan

Deepak (name changed) found out about his HIV infection at a blood donation camp. It devastated him! Not yet out of his post graduate college, he did not have the courage to share the news with his parents, skipped lecturers at college and locked h 

Read more

The information technology and mobile revolution has taken the world by a storm; it has made our lives easier, access to information better and organize our data better to make it more viable. Record-keeping and documentation has become so organize 

Read more

Akshara (name changed to maintain confidentiality) is an eight year old girl living with HIV. She lost her parents to AIDS some years back, and started living with her brother and sister in their paternal uncle’s house. Her brother, who was younge 

Read more

On my recent visit to Alliance India, two of my colleagues, Abhina and Mona, kindly took time out of their busy schedules to introduce me to two community-based organizations (CBOs) – Delhi Network of People Living with HIV (DNP+), which is implem 

Read more

“Congratulations, it’s a boy!” The room erupts with laughter and applause. The family hug each other and start planning a party for the entire village. The father beams in the knowledge that he has the respect of society, and the mother looks on 

Read more

“Hi, I am Tara. I wanted to go to college but was forced into marriage when I was barely 17 years old. After marriage, I contracted HIV from my husband. I have forgotten the meaning of life.” “Hello, I am Neetu. I was orphaned when I lost my par 

Read more

The HIV-positive mother of a newborn passes the first six months of her baby’s life in painful hope. Every moment she frets: is my baby positive or negative? The situation is made even worse, as she must also worry whether testing kits and ea 

Read more

During my visit to child care homes in Andhra Pradesh in 2014, I met several children who were orphaned or had lost one parent. Almost all of them were living with HIV. I was there to attend a meeting when these lines came flooding to me. A story o 

Read more

During a recent regional review meeting, the Vihaan team caught up with Prashant Malaiya, Deputy Director Madhya Pradesh State AIDS Control Society to learn more about his perspective on the Care & Support Centres (CSCs) being developed under  

Read more

People living with HIV (PLHIV) often find themselves facing questions they can’t answer. Many of them are reluctant to raise their concerns with family and friends. Take the case of 34-year-old Sabeer Ahmad (name changed) who is from a small town  

Read more

I have frequently heard about antiretroviral drug stock-outs from my friends and colleagues over the past three years, but then I faced one myself. Two months back, my doctor prescribed only 15 days of my medicines instead of a full month. I couldn 

Read more

The lives of Dharani, 14, and Nagadevi, 16, present a stark contrast. Both girls live in Andhra Pradesh and are affected by HIV, but Dharani is in school while Nagadevi is a new mother living with HIV. Dharani knows that her mother is HIV-positive  

Read more

It was the summer of 1999. I clearly remember those two nights. Sleepless and anxious, I just prayed that my son did not have HIV. A day earlier I had tested positive, so did my husband. The lab technician advised that since both of us were HIV p 

Read more

At least 35 million people are estimated to be living with HIV globally, with more than 2.1 million in India alone. Advancements in antiretroviral treatment (ART) have transformed the lives of people living with HIV (PLHIV). With access to ART, lif 

Read more

“We are thankful to the government for providing free ART treatment. Without their support, we might not be alive today,” says Preeti with gratitude in her eyes. In her mid-thirties, Preeti is a mother of two from a backward district in Bihar. Sh 

Read more

More than 300 stakeholders from government, affected communities, media, international agencies

Read more

A member of India’s PLHIV community reflects on ten years of access to free antiretroviral treatment. For Naomi Semy, life almost came to a standstill when she tested positive. “As I saw the test report, everything went blank. I just thought, ‘I 

Read more

A member of India’s PLHIV community reflects on ten years of access to free antiretroviral treatment. Kanjibhai B Gadhia is a content man. A well-settled farmer from Amreli district of Gujarat, he tested positive 11 years ago. “I fell seriously i 

Read more

Pre ART: 1986 to 31st March 2004 “You have AIDS,” a counselor said to me in 1997. I don’t remember the exact date, but suddenly everything went blank. The counselor had spoken to me for more than 20 minutes, but I just remembered his one se 

Read more

World TB Day is observed every year on March 24th. To mark this occasion, India HIV/AIDS Alliance today joined the Department of AIDS Control (DAC) and the Central TB Division (CTD) to create awareness about the importance of early detection and tr 

Read more

March 24 is World TB Day. Tuberculosis (TB) is a major concern for people living with HIV (PLHIV) as their impaired immune systems make them particularly vulnerable to the disease. Providing the right care & support to PLHIV with TB co-infectio 

Read more

March 24 is World TB Day. Tuberculosis (TB) is a major concern for people living with HIV (PLHIV) as their impaired immune systems make them particularly vulnerable to the disease. Providing the right care & support to PLHIV with TB co-infectio 

Read more

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major concern for people living with HIV (PLHIV) as their impaired immune systems make them particularly vulnerable to the disease. In spite of this, it remains difficult to persuade PLHIV to undergo testing for TB. The doubl 

Read more

Cervical cancer is the most common cancer among women in India, and the leading cause of cancer-related mortality. Women living with HIV (WLHIV) are at a higher risk of developing cervical cancer than women in the general population. Most significa 

Read more

March 1 is Zero Discrimination Day. HIV-related discrimination continues to plague the lives of people living with HIV (PLHIV). They are treated in dehumanizing ways, face barriers in accessing basic services like healthcare and education, and are  

Read more

Stigma and discrimination often prevent women living with HIV from accessing the essential health care services. (Photo by Prashant Panjiar for India HIV/AIDS Alliance) It was 5am. Anita (name changed) was about to give birth. The labour pain was l 

Read more