An HIV-positive pregnant woman was refused hospital assistance last night when she went into labor at an Uttar Pradesh hospital, forcing her husband to deliver their baby boy himself as doctors looked on. The Indian government hopes to combat such incidents of anti-HIV stigma with a national safe sex campaigner in the model of Thailand’s “Condom Man,” Mechai Viravaidya—they just haven’t found him yet.
Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
