KARACHI – HIV positive couple AD* and his wife S* stood, hands clasped and tears in their eyes, besides the cradle of their newborn boy. Till a few months ago, nobody believed that the baby will not be affected with HIV. Much to the parents’ delight, the newborn is not HIV positive. On Thursday, relatives gathered at the residence of AD’s sister at a ceremony where the newborn was named Sahil (seashore). The name Sahil was chosen, as the father explained, because the child’s birth seemed like the parents had finally reached the shore after a long, arduous journey.
The ceremony clearly meant a lot to the family: the parents and the extended family were both dressed in new clothes; Sahil’s eyes had been lined with surma, a black dot smeared on his forehead and a black cloth put around his wrist to ward off any evil. Sahil was born on March 1 at the Civil Hospital Karachi in a lower caesarian section, and had been shifted on Wednesday to the residence of AD’s sister.
AD and S, residents of Nusrat Bhutto Colony, wedded a few years ago. AD was a drug addict, and contracted HIV during his time wandering around the streets of Karachi with other addicts. A few years ago, he got married to S, but could not give up drugs. Things seemed to be going well for the couple, but AD landed at an HIV testing centre run by a local NGO, the Pakistan Society. It is there that he found out he was HIV positive.
“We convinced AD to get his wife screening as well, and when we tested her, she too was confirmed as HIV positive,” said Pakistan Society President Dr Saleem Azam told Pakistan Today. The couple shifted to the Recovery Center of Pakistan Society on July 14, 2009 to begin detoxification of AD’s spouse.
After getting pregnant, the mother was registered in the Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission (PPTCT) of HIV/AIDS-a combined program of Sindh AIDS Control Program and United Nations Children’s Fund.
“The new born is negative, and he is the first baby born to any positive couple associated with Pakistan Society,” said Dr Azam, adding that currently his organization has more than 1,000 patients with HIV positive.
