Use AIDS Tests not Astrology, Indian HIV Activist Tells Would-Be Couples

March 9, 2006

" Use AIDS Tests not Astrology, Indian HIV Activist Tells Would-Be

Couples "

Agence France Presse (03.05.06)

Activist Jahnabi Goswami will run for office in state elections to

be held next month in Assam on a platform that promotes regular HIV

tests, particularly among young betrothed couples. The ruling

Congress Party is backing Goswami, billing her as the first HIV-

positive person to contest an election in the northeastern state

where HIV/AIDS is rife, primarily due to drug use.

Goswami knows how important an HIV test can be for couples intending

to marry. In 1994, she married a wealthy businessman who eventually

infected her with HIV. Her husband died in 1996, and two years later

Goswami lost her two-year-old daughter to the disease.

" In our society, you see people going to astrologers to know if

their horoscopes match their partners to see if they will be

compatible, " said Goswami. " They should be going for [HIV] tests

instead. " She said she wants the Indian government to make

premarital HIV testing mandatory.

According to Goswami, the Congress Party " said there is a need for

people like me who can become future policymakers, especially on

issues relating to fighting the HIV/AIDS menace in the region. "

Campaigning pales in comparison to struggles she has already faced

because of her HIV status, Goswami said. " Soon after my husband

died, my parents-in-law chased me out of their home and I went back

to my parents, " she said. With few options available, Goswami

decided to attend university and pursue a degree in political

science. After receiving her diploma, she went public with her HIV

status, becoming one of the few Indian women to do so. " My idea was

to fight against the social stigma attached to the disease and help

innocent women like me from contracting the virus, " she said.

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