Noorie Saleem is a person with a very strong spirit" says Namita, one of the leading Aids activists from India". She is an example of how antiretroviral treatment was brought to 31 districts of India, giving new hope to people living with HIV.”

Noorie Saleem is currently the President of South India Positive Network. “As I was born a transgender, the pressure from my community was dreadful. They said, we would have killed this child if it were ours. My neighbors blamed me for things I didn’t do. My parents tortured me more because of the societal pressure. I had to leave my studies since I was continuously insulted in school for my mannerisms and the way of expression. Then when I was 13, I was forced to leave my house.

I left for the city knowing the fact that I had nowhere to go. In a city full of strangers and with all the things I had gone through I didn’t know what I would do next. Then, I happened to meet a transgender person in the Chennai railway station who advised me to be a bar dancer or a sex worker. I requested him to get me a domestic work instead. Then I worked in a house for three years.

My work was going on good when the news arrived that my father was very ill. I rushed back home. I lost my father a few days from then. My mother wanted me to get married to a girl. Later, she told me that the wedding was fixed after a few days. So again, I left my house far behind this time From then I went to Mumbai and stayed in a commune for three years and earned money. With the money that I earned in Mumbai, I returned to Chennai and got myself castrated and be a women. In Chennai, I got married to my close friend. As time passed, people looked at us with disgust and hatred. But I have my husband to thank, as he was always there for me and supported me.

However, I was forced to become a sex worker due to the lack of employment opportunities. What I got from sex work was the HIV positive status. In 1987, July 22 I came to know that I was HIV positive. I was determined to get treatment for it. But when I went to the hospital and wrote my name as a female, they objected to it. I fought with them and said, I am a female, how can you tell me to wait in a men’s queue? Then I went to the men’s queue and they objected to that too. We are always in the middle without recognition from anyone. And at the end of the day I finally managed to get treatment.

But my husband continued to support me even after knowing my status. He worked as a guard in Sri Lanka and in 1993; he died in a helicopter crash.

There is none who face stigma like PLHA particularly the women in transgender community. Today I am on Second line ARV treatment. It is so difficult for transgender person to get even a first line ARV treatment. So I do not know when we will get even a first line ARV treatment free from the government. It is a dream for us, when will we get it? We are living in the hope and dream that we will get recognition from the society. In this country, when animals have rights which are recognized in the form of insurance. But we transgenders do not have any life insurance from the state. We do not have recognition from our families, society of government. We are not asking for charity. We are demanding for recognition as male and females have in the country. We want to live a life with dignity.

I started work as a community actionist. I opened an NGO “South Indian Positive Network”. My aim was to serve all the people who were infected with HIV. Our network involves funeral services for HIV positive people. We serve them until they can feed themselves.



In 2005, I started “SIP Memorial Home” under the name of three of my close friends who passed away due to HIV. It has been running smoothly and currently I mother 40 babies. I have a lot of friends at UNAIDS to thank, for sponsoring my treatment cost. It is because of them that I am where I am, standing and fighting HIV and AIDS along with several of my friends who suffer from it.

Noorie is the newly elected APACHA International Board Member. She says "I am very happy to be the executive member of such a big People's Alliance. I hope I will be able to contribute for the growth of the alliance and I hope together we will be able to make a difference in India and in Asia."