Bruni's kiss was to tell the world it's safe to touch HIV patients

The gesture at the Naz Foundation — an orphan home for HIV afftected kids — was to convey the message that it is perfectly safe to hug or touch people suffering from the deadly disease. Dressed in a blue pantsuit with a pashmina shawl draped across her shoulder, a bejeweled hair clip and diamond ring, Bruni - a former supermodel - appeared less than flamboyant during her visit to the home.

And, at Safdarjung Hospital, Bruni met Geeta (name changed) who learnt of her condition during a routine check-up. Until she walked into the outpatient ward of the hospital, Geeta had no clue of her positive status. As the wife of a migrant worker received the results of the HIV test she underwent as per her doctor’s advice, she learnt that she had been afflicted with the disease that destroyed her immune system. That, Geeta thought, was virtually the end of the world.

Heeding the doctors’ advice not to give up, she started to take drugs to prevent the passing of the virus from the mother to child and spent time with the HIV counsellor. The result: Geeta is now expecting her baby and is happy.  Little doubt then that the story of this woman impressed the French first lady, who met Geeta and 10 other HIV positive pregnant women at the hospital. “It is very courageous of her. She will have a healthy baby. She is very courageous to do that,” Bruni said.

The first lady was also told   at the hospital how the news of the ‘positive’ status is disclosed to the spouses and how news of the disease is revealed to the children without causing emotional trauma.

Bruni, ambassador for the Geneva-based Global Fund to fight TB, Aids and Malaria, whose brother died of AIDS in 2006, also visited the anti-retroviral clinic at hospital where she spoke with two patients on medication for the last two years.

The first lady promised later that she would take up with the EU the increasing cost of AIDS drugs if the new Indo-EU Free Trade Agreement were to take effect. France is to assume the presidency of the European Union. Patients and health workers fear that the new FTA would result in escalation of drug costs, endangering the survival hopes of many. “One of the HIV patients at Safdarjung gave her a hand-made card designed by his daughter. She was touched by that card,” an official from National AIDS Control Organisation accompanying Bruni told Deccan Herald.