neglected, awareness-raising programmes will only do half the work.

neglected, awareness-raising programmes will only do half the work.

Ashar Alo Society (AAS) has been working for caring and supporting, counselling and empowering PLHAs since its formation in 2000. It has branches in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Jessore and Khulna and since its inception up until now 326 PLHAs have benefited from its programmes.

The organisation provides peer counselling, nutritional counselling, and family counselling for PLHAs. It also equips them with life-saving skills training so that they can stay well and live long by avoiding getting any infections. Monthly meetings are held at the premises of the society where PLHAs share their problems and AAS informs them about their plans and activities. The organisation also arranges vocational training for poor PLHAs who are unable to find work and provides monetary help to the very poor. There are two doctors available round the clock for treating outpatients, which also includes monthly check-ups of members and HIV testing. The organisation also provides life-saving drugs from pain-relieving pills to ARV (Anti Recto Viral) for a certain number of patients. All these services are provided free of cost as most of the HIV positive patients are poor and jobless.

The organisation also arranges community-based awareness raising programmes and advocacy meetings with doctors, the media and community people. The programmes are sponsored by FHI (Family Health International), ActionAid Bangladesh, UNICEF and Dutch Bangla Bank Ltd. Beximco Pharmaceuticals also supplies ARV medicines at a low price.

Habiba Akter, the Executive Director of AAS founded the organisation with Mohammad Ali, both of whom used to work as counsellors at CCDB (Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh). “While we were working there we realised at one point that AIDS patients were facing a lot of problems from their family and society,” says Akter, “A lot of people were dying without any treatment. Many times it came from the fact that people with this disease have a tendency to hide the fact.” Akter points out that hiding the disease only makes matters worse because a PLHA without the right information is more vulnerable to getting afflicted with other diseases and thus dying earlier without treatment. Counselling and training helps a PLHA to live a long, healthy life.“I visited a lot of countries and found out about the condition in their countries and thought that we too should have an organisation for HIV positive persons in our country,” says Akter. The organisation started working with five staff members in Dhaka and a membership of ten to a staff of 19 serving almost half of the country’s 658 identified PLHAs and more than 750 family members all over Bangladesh. Akter talks about her painful personal journey that brought her to this field of work. “I actually started working in this field ever since I got to know that my husband was HIV positive,” she says. Akter’s husband used to work in Saudi Arabia where he contracted the disease. After coming back to Dhaka he fell extremely ill but the cause of his illness remained unidentified for a long time. He died only 15 days after finding out what was wrong with him when Akter was only 25 years old. Most of AAS’s staff members are in fact HIV positive.

A PLHA who is now working as a programme coordinator at Ashar Alo Society

The message AAS primarily wants to give out is that becoming HIV positive does not mean the end of the world. In fact, until a person has full blown AIDS he/she can lead a long and normal life. Education and a disciplined lifestyle can easily ensure that. When the HIV enters the body, the person is said to be HIV positive. This virus slowly breaks down the immune system. Once the immune system is broken down the person easily catches other illnesses. During season changes