Kumaraswamy to stay overnight at HIV positive person's home

Bangalore, Jan 10 (UNI) In an attempt to remove the social stigma attached to the dreaded HIV/AIDS, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy today announced that he would stay overnight at the home of a HIV positive person during his next 'village stay' programme.

The Chief Minister, who had been staying in villages during his visit to districts to learn more about villagers' problems said, ''on my visit to Bagalkot on January 23, I will stay a night in the house of a person affected with HIV/AIDS. I would like to send out a message that nobody has the right to discriminate against people living with HIV.'' Mr Kumaraswamy was speaking after launching the US 22 million dollar United States Agency for Internatioonal Development (USAID) project 'Samastha', a comprehensive HIV prevention and care programme to address the needs of the under-served rural population in 12 districts of Karnataka.

Stressing the need to create more awareness about the killer disease he said, ''the Government will extend its full support for the success of the project.'' UNI