Media 'scoop' pushes HIV family into distress. Boy banned from school

[Guest guest]

1)AIDS boy banned from school

24/02/2005 13:06 - (SA)

Guwahati - A four-year-old HIV-positive boy has been kicked out of

school in India's northeastern state of Assam under pressure from

the parents of his classmates, a rights group said on Thursday.

The Assam Network of Positive People (ANPP) said it had appealed to

the Assam Human Rights Commission to intervene on behalf of the boy.

" This is nothing but a serious crime to have thrown out a little boy

from school just because he is HIV-positive, " ANPP leader Jahnabi

Goswami, who is herself HIV-positive, told press.

According to the principal of Sishu Niketan primary school, in the

industrial town of Namrup in eastern Assam, some parents had

threatened to take their children out of class if the infected boy

was allowed to stay.

" We were forced to dismiss him following pressure from other parents

whose children were studying in our school, " a school management

official said.

The parents of the boy had tested HIV-positive five years ago but

kept it a secret.

When news leaked out, they were ostracised by members of their

community.

After the boy was barred from classes, they moved to Assam's main

city of Guwahati where they are undergoing treatment at a city

hospital.

" Soon after the news broke the family was virtually ostracised, with

the couple, who run a small business, shocked to find their regular

customers looking the other way, " another ANPP member said.

In a similar incident two HIV-positive children were thrown out of

school in the southern Indian state of Kerala in 2003 after parents

of other students protested.

Government figures put the number of people living with HIV-Aids in

Indian at 5.1m - second only to South Africa - although health

workers say the number is much higher.

About 100 000 HIV-positive people live in India's northeast, which

borders the heroin-producing " Golden Triangle " of Laos, Myanmar and

Thailand and has high rates of intravenous drug use.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1667236,00.html

________________

2) Media 'scoop' pushes HIV family into distress:

[india News]: Guwahati, Feb 24 : Until a month ago, four-year-old

Bhairab (not his real name) went to a school in Assam like any other

child his age, playing, studying and having a good time.

Then, last year in December, the management of the private school in

eastern Assam ruthlessly expelled Bhairab. His crime -- he was HIV-

positive.

The nightmare didn't end there for the family. Bhairab's parents,

both HIV-positive, were also virtually ostracised by society. The

young couple who ran a small business were shocked to find their

regular customers looking the other way.

Although the couple tested HIV-positive five years ago, they had

managed to keep it a secret. That is until a vernacular newspaper

and a local television channel 'scooped' the news of the family

afflicted with the killer virus.

Haunted by social stigma, the family was forced to shift to Assam's

main city of Guwahati and is currently undergoing treatment at a

city hospital. Healthcare workers and rights activists are angry

over the insensitive media that went for a sensational story pushing

the family into deep distress and trauma.

" We are ashamed to find the media (the local newspaper and the TV

news channel) so insensitive and irresponsible. It is not only

unethical but libellous to have directly or indirectly identified

the family for which they are suffering today, " Jahnabi Goswami, a

member of the Assam Network of Positive People (ANPP), told IANS.

Moving the Assam Human Rights Commission seeking justice on behalf

of Bhairab and his parents Wednesday, ANPP holds the media

responsible for the family's trauma.

" We want to know why the child was thrown out of school, " said a

ANPP member.

According to the school principal, several guardians threatened to

take their children away from the school if Bhairab was allowed to

continue his studies.

" We were forced to dismiss Bhairab following pressure from other

parents whose children were studying the school, " a school

management member said.

Today, campaigners like Goswami are trying to drum up public opinion

to create awareness about the disease. " It is very unfortunate to

find society so ignorant about HIV-AIDS. People should know that HIV

does not spread just like that, " Goswami said.

Twenty-eight-year old Goswami has a personal reason for campaigning -

she was infected with HIV by her husband soon after they married in

1994. " In India, a majority of parents visit astrologers with

horoscopes of the bride and the groom to find out if the couple will

stay happy after marriage, " said Goswami.

" But from my personal experience, instead of matching horoscopes, it

would be wise if the couple go for a blood test to rule out being

HIV-positive. "

Goswami is one of the few women in India fighting to raise awareness

of the disease and one of an even smaller number to have publicly

declared that she is HIV-positive.

-Indo-Asian News Service

http://news.newkerala.com/india-news/?action=fullnews & id=76935

[Guest guest]

The stigma, discrimination and ostracisation surrounding HIV/AIDS ,

surprisingly , is still going on unabated. After this incident in Assam

where a HIV positive child has been debarred from attending school , there

is a lot of head stratching to be done by everyone involved in addressing

this problem in his/her/their own way -

1. Has no sensitisation been carried out on the media to behave in a

responsible , sensible and sensitive manner ? There cannot be any bar

regarding media pulling out scoops - all profession and proessionals want to

do something special and prove his/her/ its mettle. The question is not of

the scoop but of the manner in which rights to privacy had been overlooked .

2. There has to be insensitive, irresponsible and insensible health care

providers who had helped the media in getting the scoop. Two issues need to

be looked into carefully - (i) on what basis did the health care provider(s)

have access to such 'confidential' reports - was it 'shared' confidentiality

? (ii) was/ were health care providers aware of the process of highlighting

detection of HIV positive status of families ? To put it in another way ,

was the consent of th efamily members taken to disclose their status in this

manner ( having consent of the child may not have much meaning as he is

still a minor ) ?

3. 'Trainings' of health care providers and media personnel have been going

on in the state for quite sometime now . Is there a priority need to revisit

the trainings and to incorporate the newer topics as human rights vis a vis

HIV testing, treatment and care of people living with HIV/ AIDS and media

responsbility into the training 'curriculum' ?

4. Should we have a relook the way 'awareness' programmes on HIV/ AIDS are

being carried out ?

5. Was any 'awareness' programme on HIV/ AIDS carried out in the area in the

past couple of years where the parents of those pupils, whose parents had

threatened to pull their children out of the school in question, resides ?

A lot of harm minimisation will be attempted and we may, as individuals/

organisations working in the field of HIV/ AIDS be a party to it but weneed

to evolve proactive strategies to address these issues . In Assam we still

have an window of opportunity left - an we need to grab it now. Or never !

Dr Chiranjeeb Kakoty

Director

NESPYM, " Puspalaya "

Red Cross Road, Khaliamari, Dibrugarh 786 001

Phone :- 2329914, 2320150, Mobile :- 94350-44146

E-mail: <chkakoty1@...>