The MPs, led by Deputy Speaker Akhtar Hamid Siddiqui, have taken a laudable initiative to prevent spread of HIV/ Aids and they talked to the victims of the incurable infliction as part of their plan to remove the social stigma and misconceptions surrounding it. What has transpired from the meeting is a tale of some mortally sick people being socially ostracized for no reason whatsoever. People know little about the disease and how it spreads and the patients are avoided out of an ill-founded fear.

The patients are losing social support at a time when they need it badly. But that is not how AIDS patients are treated in other countries. People in the developed world have been made aware of the risk factors and HIV positive people receive the treatment that they need to prolong the resistance against the as yet unconquered malady. In other words, they are doing as much as they can to help the patients, many of whom have contracted the disease for no sin of theirs.

We believe the MPs have addressed a sore point in our healthcare system, one that represents the abysmal ignorance of people about the hazards of HIV/Aids. The appeal of the move coming from the lawmakers is likely to be high, but it is equally important that similar efforts are made at other levels to spare the hapless patients the pain of neglect.

The move by the MPs is important for another reason which is that Bangladesh has been identified as a country with a low prevalence of but high vulnerability to HIV/Aids. So, it is necessary to take such steps as will lessen our vulnerability to the disease and give society a more humane face when it comes to handling the patients.