In This UP Village Wives Ask Their Husbands To Furnish A HIV Negative Certificate Before Sex

This Diwali wasn't the same for Anita, a mother of two in this village. When her husband, who works in Mumbai to provide for his family - came back home this Diwali, she insisted on an HIV test before he entered home. But, her husband wouldn't agree. So, Anita decided he would not let him share her bed till he was in Udaisarai.

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Vidya, another resident of this village and a mother of two, too would not allow her husband Ram Kishore enter home till a blood test showed he was HIV negative.

Not that Anita and Vidya were not happy that their husbands were home for Diwali. But, they were scared that they could give them something more than the money and Diwali gifts. They were afraid the men may get them disease and death - carrying back home with them the deadly HIV.

The women in this village, where most male members work in Mumbai for a living, have united and are fighting this virus in a unique way: They are making the menfolk - through persuasion and even force - undertake a test to check for HIV as soon as they reach the village from Mumbai.

Their fears aren't misplaced. For, Udaisarai was like any other village in Uttar Pradesh - surviving on income from agriculture and money orders from men working in Mumbai and other cities in western India - till a screening camp 10 years ago made their world turn topsy turvy.

Results of blood tests in the camp revealed most of the males were carrying the deadly virus.

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The village, with members from about 200 homes working in other states, has lost as many as 44 people in the past decade to the deadly virus. With death staring them in the face, women have taken strong steps. And, if the wives are ensuring HIV tests for husbands and safe sex, they are being supported by their mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law.

"We are helping them save themselves from the scourge of infection and stigma. This Diwali, the women told the men to get themselves tested for HIV when the returned home," said Gyan Swaroopa, an anganwadi worker who has played a key role in spreading awareness in the village.

It was Vidya who took the lead and made her husband undergo a blood test at the Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre at the Fatehpur district hospital.

"I have seen members of families which got infected die one by one. Even medicines do not work. The trauma is unbearable. So, I asked my husband to get himself checked," said Vidya.

But not all spouses are cooperative. Anita had to struggle to make her husband take the test. "I did not let him into my room for two days as he refused to take the test. I even did not let him share my bed for the rest of the days," she said.

"It was my mother-in-law who made him agree, reminding him of the deaths village have died. Village elders too convinced him and he donated his sample before leaving for Mumbai. The report is awaited," she added.

When Sangeeta's husband came home for Diwali, it was her sister-in-law, who herself had lost her husband, who convinced him for the test. Sangeeta's family heaved a sigh of relief when he turned out to be HIV negative. Sangeeta had stopped communicating with her husband till he agreed.

But, when Rekha, who was married just about six months ago, could not convince her husband for the test, she ensured that he used condoms.

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But not all had it easy. When another resident Rani Devi insisted that her husband underwent a test, he retorted: Will you tell me what I should do?." ASHA worker Karuna Devi said threat of importing HIV infection from Mumbai still looms over the hamlet. Village head Dharam Raj revealed that at least 250 residents from 200 families worked in Mumbai and came back home only on festivals.

"No one knows what these men do when they are far away, living alone. We counsel youth and men when they leave Fatehpur for work. The stand taken by the women of the village is laudable," said village pradhan Dharam Raj.

Elders who work in Mumbai also keep an eye on the younger men. "Instead of staying on the streets, we get together and pool in money to rent common rooms. This has minimized men visiting commercial sex workers," said Ramesh Kumar, who has been working in Mumbai since 1999.

Social organisations working in HIV prevention in the village are also helping empower women. President of Nehru Yuva Sangathan, Rajendra Sahu said: "Women are better change-makers than anyone else. An aware woman force in the village has checked the rate of new cases in the past few years."