The Government may have been patting its back for declining number of AIDS cases in the country, people afflicted with the HIV (PLHIV) continue to face the burnt of discrimination. But what has come as more anguishing and traumatising for the segment is that the verbal and physical violence has come from not only the outsiders but also their own family members, says a survey. 
For nearly half (48 per cent) of general females, who reported physical assault at least once, were assaulted by their husbands or partners and another one-third (36 per cent) of them faced assault from other members of the family. In addition, 52 per cent of general male, 31 per cent of transgender (TG), 12 per cent of male having sex with male(MSM), 15 per cent of female sex workers were assaulted by family members, as per survey conducted in Tamil Nadu by the Family Planning Association of India, International Planned Parenthood Federation in collaboration with the UK aid from the Department of International Development (DID). A total 1,594 PLHIV were interviewed between December 2010 to September 2011. The survey found that their social exclusion too was abundant in the form of not being allowed to participate in religious activities and family activities besides verbal and physical assault. It was often experienced by Transgenders (14 per cent) followed by FSW (11 per cent) and MSM (10 per cent). Physical assault by unknown person was reported mostly by People who Use Drugs (PUD) (36 per cent) and transgenders (40 per cent). See the original article here.
