The National Centre for AIDS and STD Control (NCASC) has not been able to provide nutrimix super-flour porridge, including other nutritious foods, to HIV-infected people for the past four months in Dailekh district.

Officials at the District Public Health Office (DPHO) said that the HIV-infected in the district are using nutrimix as a regular diet during antiretroviral treatment (ART).

“HIV-infected people in the district who are receiving ART treatments are deprived of nutrimix super porridge,” said DPHO’s Rajan Adhikari, adding that the treatment consists of the combination of at least three antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to suppress the HIV virus and stop the progression of HIV disease.

Some 101 HIV-infected people, including women and children, are currently using ARV drugs in the district. Social activist Ganesh Majhi of Rakam lamented that the government has not able to allocate sufficient budget for the treatment and well-being of HIV-infected people in the district.

Meanwhile, HIV-infected Ratna BK of Rakamkarnali-4 in Dailekh has suffered a lot after being deprived of nutritious food due to the unavailability of nutrimix in the district.

Ratna’s wife Bima and their child are also suffering from the disease. Ratna had contracted the dreaded disease while in Mumbai, India where he had gone in search of work, and later transmitted the virus to his wife after he returned to Nepal. The HIV-positive mother then transmitted the disease to her child during pregnancy.

Bima lamented that her family has been forced to spend numerous days on empty stomach due to constant discrimination they have faced as an HIV-infected family, effectively depriving them of ability to find work locally.

“Even neighbors behave in a rather rude way and subject us to various kinds of discrimination,” she said.

Likewise, the story of Jaukala BK of Rakamkarnali-3 is also similar. She had dreamed that her life and that of her child will change for the better when her husband flew abroad for foreign employment.

However, her husband returned with HIV virus and died after a while. But not before transmitting the disease to Jaukala and their children. “We have also suffered from various kinds of mistreatments from our neighbours”, she said.

Meanwhile, District Coordinator of Nepal STD and AIDS Research Centre, Deepa Bohara. said that people suffering from HIV/AIDS must regularly use ART drugs. However, the HIV infected persons are not getting proper medication from the government even as the number of families suffering from HIV/AIDS in Acham and Dailekh district is on the rise.