World AIDS Day is organized on December 1 every year all over the world. The purpose of this day is to spread awareness about the disease and also show support for HIV positive people as well as to mourn those who have died as a result of AIDS. According to World Health organization (WHO), ‘World AIDS Day brings together people from around the world to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and demonstrate international solidarity in the face of the pandemic’.
It is a fact that among the major health related hazards which present human population is grappling with is AIDS. Worldwide there are currently more than 37.9 million people living with HIV or AIDS. In India alone, there are almost 2.35 million people living with this disease and each passing day the number goes on increasing. This disease has left the human life shattered and each passing day this deadly disease consumes more and more lives.
Although, the medical science has conquered new heights and came up with certain unbelievable and incredible discoveries in recent times, however, nothing substantial hasn’t come to fore in terms of treatment while dealing with this deadly disease. However due to improved health care facilities, AIDS has been more manageable nowadays, allowing people living with HIV to enjoy longer and healthier lives.
The disease is so widespread that no part of the world has remained unaffected and Kashmir too seems to be no exception. There are reports that this deadly disease has also been found in Kashmir which medical experts believe is carried from outside states. Although, world over AIDS has now been accepted more like a disease and less a stigma, in Kashmir situation is entirely different. Like all traditional and conservative societies, a patient living with AIDS becomes a curse and nuisance than anything else. This is a grave concern and needs immediate and high effective measures so that people suffering from this disease are not left out in the society.
There is need to understand that a patient living with this disease is a fellow being and importantly a human. So to treat him in ill manner not only makes the person suffer irreparably but creates upheavals in his social and mental behaviour. Saving Kashmiri society from the ignominy of this cursed disease, every section of the society needs to join the effort, but without indulging into moral bashing of the entire society. The sooner we understand this fact the better it would for ourselves and for our society. Creating social inhibitions and stigmas will not solve the problem but complicate the matter further.
(Author is a teacher and social activist)
