That the HIV/AIDS scenario in the State has undergone a sea change with concerted government and non-Government efforts was confirmed on Monday when Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi launched a book that recounts the real life narratives of people who have acquired the dreaded disease. The book, titled Positive in Rhino Land: Battle Against HIV/AIDS in Assam and authored by journalist Wasbir Hussain, brings the dreaded disease out of the closet by relating the struggles and determination of the affected people to live and keep smiling. Gogoi said that awareness drives carried out by government agencies and non-governmental organisations have brought perceptible change in the society that is slowly learning to accept the positive people and giving them their due respect. When the State documented its first HIV positive case in 1990, the scenario was such; the patient admitted at the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) was treated by medical staff, some of whom wore makintosh type dresses for fear of acquiring the virus. Those were the days when awareness about the disease was low even amongst the medical fraternity, not to speak of the common people. Gogoi said that the challenge before the government was to check the disease and give added thrust to the awareness drives by involving all stake holders and the civil society. Speaking on the occasion, Jahnabi Goswami, the first person in the region to declare her HIV positive status, said that though changes were taking place in the society, the struggle of the positive people was on.