Four HIV+ couples to tie the knot today in Latur

AURANGABAD: This Valentine’s Day will mark the beginning of a new chapter in the lives of some HIV+ women and men in Latur.
Four couples will be getting married at Sevalay, an NGO based at Hasegaon in Ausa taluka of Latur district, on Sunday.
Eminent personalities from different walks of life will grace the occasion as patrons of these couples. Among those getting married is a woman from Bihar, who has been living in Latur.Her to-be husband is from Karnataka.
Sevalay founder Ravi Bapatle said that the anti-retroviral therapy has increased the life longevity of AIDS patients. “The life-span of HIV+ people has also increased considerably due to the evolved treatment. Many of children, who were born with the infection, have gotten married in the past few years,” he said.
Bapatle said the medical science has progressed to ensure that the children of such couples do not carry the infection, if all proper measures are followed.
“There is a longing among many HIV+ people to get married. We do match-making for couples and arrange marriage of compatible couples,” he said.
On inter-state couple getting married on Sunday, Bapatle said the woman was an orphan and reached Sevalay from her home-town in Bihar via Pune. “Her to-be husband is from Karnataka. She is currently working with us for the welfare of people living with HIV and AIDS patients,” he said.