In this Village of UP, Wives make HIV certificate must for husbands

Lucknow: Husbands in the Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh, who works in Mumbai for living, who come home once in a year were shocked when their wives ask them to get HIV certificate.

Ram Kishore, a resident of the village was shocked when he was asked for a HIV certificate by his wife before allowing him to share the bed. Not only Ram Kishore, most of the men returning home this Diwali from Mumbai, faced a similar situation in their homes.

This is not that the women in this village are not happy with the homecoming of their husbands. But they have a strong reason to be afraid of.

According to a report in ‘The Times of India’, Udaisarai village has about 200 homes and about 250 men from this village work in Mumbai. Every year on the occasion of Diwali, these men bring money and gifts and the deadly HIV virus along with this.

The women in this village, where most men work in Mumbai for a living, have united and are fighting this virus in a unique way: They are making the men to check for HIV as soon as they reach the village from Mumbai.

Their fears aren’t misplaced, as recently a screening camp made their world turn topsy turvy after results of blood tests in the camp revealed most of the males were carrying the deadly HIV virus.

Anita, a mother of two, also insisted her husband for undergoing a HIV test before maintaining sexual relations with him. So far about 44 people have died in last ten years and about 12 patients of HIV are undergoing treatment.