Perception of Death in the Minds of Women with AIDS

Abstract

Death is universal. Every culture has its unique perspective on death. And every individual has his own share of death. But death due to AIDS is what everybody would prefer to avoid. This is due to the fact that people with HIV/AIDS are stigmatized and discriminated. Women who mostly get infected from their husbands become widows. They become burdened with their disease and their responsibility to look after their children. In some cases they are compelled to nurse their sick husbands in spite of own ill-health. There remains constant sense of fear and insecurity in their minds- fear of physical death, fear of their spiritual stand, and fear of their children's future after their death, as also fear of the society's attitude towards their death. The present paper is an attempt to study the perception of death of the women with AIDS. The women under study were from five different communities of Manipur namely, the Meitei, Muslim, Tangkhul, Kuki and Rongmei (Kabul). The paper is organized under four broad themes.