IPS examines how HIV/AIDS affects women in western Nepal

Inter Press Service examines how HIV/AIDS is affecting women in western Nepal, where life in the poor region "is getting worse thanks to HIV infection brought back by men who go to neighboring India for seasonal work." According to IPS, "Worst hit are the region's women, many of whom have had to sell off their land and livestock to get HIV treatment for their husbands and, in many cases, for themselves." Some women who are widowed by HIV may find work as laborers, but the "social stigma attached to HIV and fears of contracting the virus among villagers" makes life difficult for women affected by HIV/AIDS, the news service notes. The article includes quotes from several women and community health workers involved in prevention, counseling and care of women affected by the disease. "According to the government's National Centre for AIDS and STD Control (NCASC), women in the 15-49 age group form over 28 percent of the estimated 55,000 people living with HIV in the country," IPS writes (Newar, 4/11).