Pune:
Over 200 people turned up for the marriageable youth meet in the city organised by Positive Living for HIV/AIDS (PLHA), a group of NGOs of different cities of the state working for those suffering from the dreaded ailment.
PLHA has been successful in finding life partners for more than 300 HIV-positive people in the last three years.
According to PLHA members, lack of acceptance and initiative from family and society is one of the major hurdles in helping these people to tie the knot.
NGOs from four cities came together to form PLHA in 2007 with a common motive to help HIV-positive persons to find life partners. Saad Foundation from Satara, Kranti from Sangli, Disha from Kolhapur and Life Process Foundation from Pune have held five meetings since 2007 at various places. Over 150 marriages have been solemnised with their initiative till date.
"Encouraging and supporting such marriages is essential to break the vicious circle of circulating the virus. Marriage brings hopes in their lives and helps them fight back together, drawing strength from each other,'' said Sunita Pawar, a social worker with PLHA from Satara.
The participants included those who had lost their partners to HIV and also unmarried youth. They have to produce true copies of HIV-positive report and medicine receipts to take part in the meet. They are given numbers to protect their identities and the number is called out during the meet and complete information about occupation, resident city, income and other details is given by the anchor of the meet. It is optional for the participants to disclose their name and to come on the stage when their information is read out.
"We have a long way to go as thousands of HIV-positive people who are looking for life partners are still out of our reach. Under family pressure, many end up marrying a healthy person and adding to the number of HIV-positive population. We aim to discourage such marriages. The person and the family should accept the situation and look for HIV carriers. There are many examples of positive couples leading a happy life,'' she added.
Madhav and Sunita (name changed), HIV-positive persons from a village near Satara, had no hope of get married until they met at a marriageable youth meet held by PLHA. Three years after their marriage, they attended the meet held in the city on Sunday to inspire other similarly affected people to tie the knot.
"Madhav and Sunita have a two-year-old child which is HIV-negative. Marriage helps these people start life anew. Once the match is made, we guide them about medication, so that the problem does not aggravate,'' said Pawar.
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