A group of 15 Indian writers are participating in a new initiative sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that aims to open up a public dialogue about HIV/AIDS in India and abroad, The Hindustan Times reports (hindustantimes.com, 1/19).
The writers will visit communities and families that have been affected by HIV and AIDS to explore different aspects of the country’s epidemic.
“I met widows and orphans and will write about how life goes on despite HIV,” said one writer, Nalini Jones, from Bangalore.
The Gates Foundation hopes the writers’ works, which will be published in an anthology in August, will help to humanize the epidemic, reports the Times. Approximately 2.5 million Indians are living with HIV.
NEW! Scroll down to comment on this story.
Please click OK to confirm your comment and confirm you accept our posting rules. Note your message will be reviewed by our staff before going live.
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.
Woman of the Month is supported by exclusive advertising from Gilead.
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."
