Indian Matrimonial Web Site Helps HIV-Positive People Find Partners
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).