Percentage distribution of discrimination among the PLWHA based on background characteristics

Table-2 presents the love and care of the neighbours towards the PLHIV. This table makes it clear that before they were detected with HIV 84 percent of them felt they were treated well by the neighbours but after the detection of the HIV the figure slide down to only 32 percent. This decrease is a substantial level. Compared to the male counterpart, females faced this more than the male. Similarly, the widowed and separated groups had higher chance of having this problem than the currently married of unmarried group. There was not much difference in neighbour’s attitude in terms of educational attainment or work status. However joint family people had a better outcome than others.

Table 3 The marital conflict as experienced by women is also examined in the paper and it is found that 54.8 percent of the women faced marital conflict after they got the HIV status This is quite expected and despite the fact that many awareness programs are run the shock that people had once they are declared of this deadly disease is known. Among them the older, divorcees, non-earning living in urban areas had a significantly higher level of marital conflict than other counterparts. One exception is the women in the nuclear setup where the level of marital discord was much less than others.

DISCUSSION Case study -I Rani, 24, a widow of injecting drug user (IDUs) is from Thoubal district. She studied class X and got married. Her husband held an M.A. in English and was employed in a private school. Before marriage, she was unaware of her husband’s drug behaviour. However, he became addicted to substances during his post-graduate years as well. She discovered her HIV status in the routine antenatal check-up. She was counselled and convinced of having HIV test since her husband was already HIV+. Ultimately, Rani also found herself HIV+. She gave birth to a baby and soon after that she along with her husband joined Manipur Network of Positive People (MNP+) an NGO worked for the PLHIV in Manipur. After joining MNP+ she got training to handle the situation. Rani retorted that nobody was looking after her when she fell ill at her in-law’s house only to get the ill treatment. She was refused to get any resource for her treatment from her in-laws and she also hid her situation from her parents even. She was even denied of attending the last rite of her husband after he died. She was of the opinion that majority of women in her situation faced such kind of discrimination in almost every part of the state.

Case study –II Lun is from Churachandpur district. He is twenty-year-old and HIV+ positive. After completing his high school education, he studied engineering at the North East Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST), Arunachal Pradesh. During his days in NERIST he established himself as active drug addiction. He said that he started using heroin while he was in class-VIII. He even narrated that during his days in NERIST he bought Spasmo-proxy van as a stock for two years. Later he confirmed his HIV positive but dared not to tell anybody even to his family. Nobody took him seriously despite various complaints he had later he got admitted to an NGO in Churachandpur and got some treatment. Later he joined Manipur Network of positive People (MNP+) and became a peer educator. He did keep much of a positive hope in his life only thing that kept him moving is to render help to fellow PLHIV.

Case study—III Hoinu is fron Shaikot Village Churachandpur. Her spouse served as a defence personnel and was stationed in Cambodia for six years as part of the UN Peace Mission. Her husband was granted leave on medical ground from duty and asked him to report after curing his illness. Instead of going through treatment, he became addicted to alcohol and marijuana. When her spouse became ill, he was sent to t he Government District Hospital in Churachandpur, where he was diagnosed with AIDS. So, District Hospital Doctors sent him to “SHALOM” Rehab Centre for medical care, but he died there after a month. Hoinu tested for HIV and found positive but she did not face any physical complications in the beginning. However, she started her full blown HIV/ AIDS complication after 3 years of her husband death. She also got treatment at SHALOM Rehab Center but faced lots of financial problems for her treatment and caring of her children. She narrated that if she died there would be nobody to stay with and care for her small children. She was very weak and unable to talk. She sends a message to society: “Do not have sexual relationships with strangers, do not engage in risky behaviour, and say no to IDUs.”

Analysis from the case study From the cases it becomes clear that HIV is a condition of highly deplorable. The first case shows the condition of being a PLHIV woman who suffered both from the husband being a liar and family not considering the situation faced by women as a group in Manipur. Afterall her natal family stood by her and extended the help which she needed most at the time of need. The second case was the experience of a youth who tasted drugs in the early age. Because of his misadventure he ended up without having nothing from his academic life and a result his family left him unattended while he devoted his life to the cause of HIV/ AIDS. The third case is also a transmission from the unsuspecting husband who was away from home for a long time in service. The unguarded moments of life of the husband put Hoinu into the dreaded situation and led her to the world of HIV. She was devastated but she carried on her life for the sake of her small innocent children. Her message to us is to avoid sexual relationships with strangers, as well as using illicit drugs and other dangerous behaviour.

CONCLUSION The current paper focuses solely on the perceptions and experiences of people living with HIV (PLHIV), providing a boost and direction for future research that examines the perceptions and experiences of general population (non-PLHIV) in tailoring more effective measures to improve the quality of life of PLHIV. In short, the research paper was able to emphasize the stigma and discrimination experienced by PLHIV in the state of Manipur. It was able to address the fact that women (PLHIV) are more vulnerable to discrimination and marital turmoil. The finding furnished deep understanding of the problem which needs valuable intervention through social support, professional social workers, ASHA and others community-based health worker to improve the quality of life for PLHIV in Manipur.

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Percentage distribution of discrimination among the PLWHA based on background characteristics

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