Orissa AIDS widows to get pension

The Orissa government has announced a pension scheme for AIDS widows. This pension is meant exclusively for widows and not for other family members of persons who have died of AIDS. Health Minister Duryodhan Majhi on Wednesday said the scheme would be the first of its kind in the country and hoped it would encourage other states to undertake welfare measures for such widows. "There are several cases where men die of AIDS early on in life, between the age of 35 and 40 years. Their widows find it hard to support themselves and bring up their children. The proposed pension scheme would be very helpful to them," Majhi said. According to the State AIDS Cell (SAC), people who died of AIDS stood at 685 in September 2007, including 218 in Ganjam district. Besides, there are 902 cases of full-blown AIDS and 7,372 HIV-positive people in the state.

Parameswar Swain, project director of SAC, said that prior to the introduction of the pension scheme, a survey would be conducted to find out how many of the 685 had left behind widows and to identify them. In addition, SAC was creating a database on AIDS patients and HIV-infected for regular counselling purposes. The first meeting of the State Council on AIDS also saw a proposal to support the education of AIDS orphans being raised.  (Source: The Hindustan Times, November 1, 2007)