By Tara Rana | Project Leader
Before Kamalini could properly adjust to her newly married life, she lost her husband, a truck driver, to HIV. She had no other choice but to accept her fate. She continued to live with her in-laws, then a few years later she started to frequently fall ill. When tested for HIV, her reports were positive. She was shattered to know that she will be on medication for lifelong. Feeling helpless, she registered herself with the ART Centre at Rourkela for the treatment. It was here that our outreach worker connected with Kamini.
During a course of time, Kamalini and Urmila (outreach worker) formed a close friendship as they were both HIV survivors. Urmila, trained in giving care and support services to people living with HIV, was able to impart HIV literacy and encourage Kamalini to adhere to her treatment regimen. “At the support group meetings held in the support centre, I met many who were living with HIV. They gave me hope. I thought, if they can, then I too can live a healthy and normal life”, said Kamalini.
Kamalini regularly attended the support group meetings and interacted with Urmila and other Outreach Workers who always extended support to her. They even introduced Kamalini to her future husband Santosh who is also living with HIV at Cuttack. Urmila along with another Outreach Worker from the Cuttack support center facilitated the first meeting between the families and in no time the wedding was fixed and Kamalini got re-married to Santosh.
In January 2019, with proper guidance on Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission programme to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV medication the couple gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Kamalini couldn’t be happier to finally have a family of her own. Urmila had helped her through every step. “To see Kamalini transform into this confident and happy woman that she is today gives me great joy and satisfaction”, said Urmila who shared Kamalini’s journey to health and happiness.
Impact in numbers:
10100 (People Living with HIV) PLHIV newly registered with the programme
4857 PLHIV dropped out of treatment were brought back to ART treatment
5109 PLHIV were linked to social welfare schemes & entitlement
95554 PLHIV screened for TB symptoms for the first time
3424 TB symptomatic clients among registered PLHIV referred to ARTC / nearest TB testing facility
36 Pregnant Women identified at the Program linked with PPTCT
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