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Fighting the stigma of HIV in India

Amit - "I was a wireless operator in the Indian Navy, and one of the first military personnel to be tested HIV positive. I was made into a sort of showpiece. Medical students would come and inspect me. I was told many times to remove my clothes and to stand naked, while they discussed the signs and symptoms. On every report it was written 'confidential', but there is nothing confidential as far as an armed forces hospital is concerned they shared my history with everybody. It was a good friend who stood by me and supported me, that saved me during this time. In 1996 I was invited to a national workshop on HIV. It changed my life. Since then I have been working with people who are HIV positive. Tomorrow I am thirty years old, I can honestly say that I am the happiest person alive. Though I am living with the virus, I don't have any problems with the virus. There are people who think that the virus is more important than the people who are living with it. I was Amit first; I became an HIV infected later. I am still the same person."

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Fighting the Stigma in India
Amit - "I was a wireless operator in the Indian Navy, and one of the first military personnel to be tested HIV positive. I was made into a sort of showpiece. Medical students would come and inspect me. I was told many times to remove my clothes and to stand naked, while they discussed the signs and symptoms. On every report it was written 'confidential', but there is nothing confidential as far as an armed forces hospital is concerned they shared my history with everybody. It was a good friend who stood by me and supported me, that saved me during this time. In 1996 I was invited to a national workshop on HIV. It changed my life. Since then I have been working with people who are HIV positive. Tomorrow I am thirty years old, I can honestly say that I am the happiest person alive. Though I am living with the virus, I don't have any problems with the virus. There are people who think that the virus is more important than the people who are living with it. I was Amit first; I became an HIV infected later. I am still the same person."
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