By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Nov 29: An alleged systemic discrimination within Meghalaya’s HIV response took centre stage on World AIDS Day 2025, as the Meghalaya State Network of Positive People (MSNP+) accused the state’s health authorities of excluding People Living with HIV (PLHIV) from the official programme and denying them the platform they were entitled to.
Barry Leslie Kharmalki of MSNP+ said the global theme — “Overcoming Disruption, Transforming the AIDS Response” — places PLHIV leadership at the heart of decision-making, yet in Meghalaya, the community was reduced to “leading from backstage.” He said MSNP+, the only recognised PLHIV network in the state, was not given even a short slot to speak before the Chief Minister and the Health Minister.
Kharmalki said organisations such as the Meghalaya Users’ Forum (MUF) and MeduNet, both of which have supported PLHIV and people who use drugs for more than a decade, were also excluded, as though their experience disrupted the official narrative. He said this contradicts the routine condemnation of discrimination in public forums, even as the same attitudes persist within departments steering the HIV response.
He said policymakers must hear directly from PLHIV rather than through intermediaries, who, in his view, do not reflect ground realities. According to him, several urgent concerns continue to be ignored: a rise in children living with HIV; 11 months of appeals to line departments without progress; and disruptions in basic diagnostic tests essential for treatment monitoring.
Kharmalki said lost-to-follow-up cases are rising, and both new HIV and Hepatitis C infections continue. He cited cramped counselling rooms in East Jaintia Hills — described as “store cupboard-sized” — where confidentiality is impossible, and overcrowding at the ART centre in Ialong Civil Hospital, which he said strips patients of dignity and burdens healthcare workers. He said the organisers avoided these issues and instead highlighted decorations, hashtags, and photo opportunities, choosing not to address disrupted services, children without support, or deteriorating infrastructure.
Kharmalki said World AIDS Day is rooted in PLHIV asserting their right to be heard and that the community would not accept being used merely as an audience while being denied a voice. He said those who have never lived the PLHIV experience cannot chart the future of those who have, and that denying system failures contradicts the theme of transformation.
He said MSNP+ will continue speaking for every child, every PLHIV and every frontline worker “operating without dignity,” whether invited or excluded. He also criticised what he described as the decision to showcase celebrity doctors, fashion models and influencers, saying such gestures overshadow frontline workers who keep people alive.
