Exploring positive women's lives in Namakkal District, India

with Deepika Ganju This report is the result of a project entitled " Advocating for the Issues of Women Living with HIV/AIDS in India, " undertaken as part of the Health and Population Innovation Fellowship (HPIF) awarded to the author in 2004. The HPIF programme is administered by the Population Council, New Delhi and is a continuation of the MacArthur Foundation's Fund for Leadership Development (FLD) fellowship programme that continued over the period 1995 to 2004. The Council is grateful to the MacArthur Foundation for its support to this programme. The HPIF programme aims to support mid-career individuals who have innovative ideas, leadership potential, and the capacity to help shape policy and public debate in the field of population, reproductive health and rights in general, with a focus on two priority themes—maternal mortality and morbidity, and the sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people. Since the transfer of the programme to the Population Council through 2006, a total of 17 individuals have been supported under the HPIF programme. The Population Council is an international, non-profit, non-governmental organisation that seeks to improve the well-being and reproductive health of current and future generations around the world and to help achieve a humane, equitable and sustainable balance between people and resources. The Council conducts biomedical, social science and public health research, and helps build research capacities in developing countries. About the authors: P. Kousalya is President, Positive Women's Network, a self-help organisation of women living with HIV in India; Joint Secretary of the Indian Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS (INP+); member of the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS, UNAIDS; and trustee member of the international community for women living with HIV/AIDS, representing the Asia-Pacific region. She has been working extensively for the rights of women living with HIV in India. Deepika Ganju is an independent communications consultant. Her work has focused on the areas of social development and health, in particular issues concerning youth, reproductive and sexual health, poverty alleviation, and water and sanitation. She has documented and conducted research on these issues, and has also been associated, as a writer and technical editor, with the publication of books, journals, policy briefs, programme advisory notes, newsletters and field notes in these areas.