Indian Matrimonial Web Site Helps HIV-Positive People Find Partners

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 30 Sep 2008 - 9:00 PDT

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An Indian Web site launched last year by government employee Anil Kumar Valiv aims to help HIV-positive people find partners who also are HIV-positive and are interested in marriage, Reuters reports.

About 460 men and 60 women living with HIV/AIDS have registered on the site and created profiles since last year. According to Reuters, several site users have married partners they met through the site. The Web site also offers telephone numbers of hotlines and addresses of nongovernmental organizations that provide support for people living with HIV/AIDS, Reuters reports.

Prior to the site's launch, there were no "mainstream Indian matrimonial" Web sites available exclusively for people living with HIV/AIDS, Valiv said. "In India, it is very difficult to find a life partner for an HIV-positive person," Valiv said, adding that the Internet "provides the necessary anonymity to people who prefer to register without disclosing their real names." He added that the site could help prevent the spread of HIV and decrease marriages in which parents "knowingly marry off sons with HIV infection to healthy women who in turn get infected."

India has the third largest number of HIV/AIDS cases worldwide, Reuters reports (Bhowmik, Reuters, 9/26).

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