Mexico: Laws Criminalising HIV Transmission Are Discriminatory

I’m republishing this excellent article from the Inter Press Service providing the first overview I’ve ever seen of the individual Mexican state’s laws that can be used to prosecute people with HIV for not disclosing before sex. So far there have been no prosecutions.

Mexico: Laws Criminalising HIV Transmission Are Discriminatory

Inter Press Service – June 29, 2010
Emilio Godoy

MEXICO CITY, Jun 29 (IPS) – In 30 of Mexico’s 32 states there are laws penalising transmission of HIV, the AIDS virus, which are regarded by experts as discriminatory and ineffective in curbing the epidemic.

Under the Federal Criminal Code, passing on a sexually transmitted infection (STI) or incurable disease is a crime punishable by up to five years in prison, and this is mirrored in most of the states’ legislation, where fines and community service are sometimes included as penalties.

In two states, Guerrero in the southwest and Tamaulipas in the northeast, the laws refer specifically to HIV/AIDS.

The central states of Aguascalientes and San Luis de Potosí are the only ones that do not criminalise the transmission of STIs.

In Guerrero, article 195 of the state penal code establishes prison terms of three months to five years and fines of between 20 and 100 days of the defendant’s wages for anyone who is aware they have an STI or HIV and has sexual intercourse with someone who is unaware of their condition.

In Tamaulipas, article 203 provides for sentences of six months to six years, and fines of between 10 and 50 days of the defendant’s wages, for the same offence.

“This is an alarming situation. HIV transmission should not be criminalised. It is a discriminatory practice that lends itself to continued justification of attitudes like homophobia,” José Aguilar, the national coordinator of the non-governmental Red Democracia y Sexualidad, which focuses on sex education and advocating sexual rights, told IPS.

So far, these laws have not been enforced against HIV-positive people, which is why there have been no moves to repeal them.

“This legislation was intended to curb the HIV/AIDS epidemic; but clearly, it criminalises people living with HIV. It also violates a number of human rights, for instance the rights to privacy and sexual freedom,” Mario Juárez, at the department of analysis and proposals of the state National Council to Prevent Discrimination, told IPS.

This country of 107 million people has more than 200,000 people living with HIV — the second largest infected population in Latin America after Brazil — and an HIV infection rate of 0.4 percent. In the region, over two million people are living with the virus.

Criminalisation of the transmission of HIV/AIDS is on the agenda for the 18th International AIDS Conference scheduled for Jul. 18-23 in Vienna, Austria. It was also discussed at the 11th National Congress on HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Infections, held last November in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.

And at the 17th International AIDS Conference held in August 2008 in Mexico City, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) presented a global report on the growing criminalisation of HIV transmission.

Mexico’s national report for 2008-2009 on the fulfilment of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) in 2001, does not mention the effects of these laws.

“It’s important to have prevention measures and awareness-raising campaigns, and to build a culture of respect. Civil society is always fighting discriminatory measures like these, and always struggling against the current,” said Aguilar.

In 2007, UNAIDS and the UNDP supported the publication of a document, “Ten Reasons for Opposing Criminalisation of HIV Exposure or Transmission“, drawn up by a coalition of organisations working on HIV/AIDS, human rights and gender issues.

“The push to apply criminal law to HIV exposure and transmission is often driven by the wish to respond to serious concerns about the ongoing rapid spread of HIV in many countries, coupled by what is perceived to be a failure of existing HIV prevention efforts,” the document says.

The 10 reasons include the ineffectiveness of such laws and their discriminatory and stigmatising nature, as well as the view that they “endanger and further oppress women.”

In Mexico the sex ratio among people living with HIV was 6.6 men for each woman in 1995, a proportion that dropped to 5.1 in 1996 and 3.6 in 2008, before increasing to four men for every woman in 2009.

Between 1995 and 2009, there were 640 homophobia-related murders, 143 of which were committed in the Mexican capital, according to the Federal District Commission on Human Rights.

“It’s an issue that just hasn’t been raised forcefully enough, and so the state has not reacted. Civil society organisations should take up the question and air it in public,” said Juárez, in regard to the laws and their possible consequences.

But so far there have been no legislative initiatives to eliminate the laws criminalising HIV transmission in Mexico.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has approved a grant of 70 million dollars for a Mexican project aimed at high risk groups such as men who have sex with men, sex workers and intravenous drug users.

The Global Fund, based in Geneva, Switzerland, is a public-private partnership of international donors, the governments of the Group of Eight most powerful countries, and non-governmental organisations, devoted to preventing and treating AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in needy countries.

Laos: Legislators consider HIV-specific law allowing “prosecution of wrongdoers”

A brief report from the German News Agency, dpa, suggests that leglislators in Laos are considering a new HIV-specific law that will include criminal exposure or transmission provisions.

The law would also introduce the “prosecution of wrongdoers,” the report said.

Some of Laos’ neighbouring countries, including Cambodia, China, and Vietnam already have statutes that allow for such prosecution, although Myanmar and Thailand have so far resisted such laws.

“As a transit country, the trend is towards more exchanges of people and goods between neighboring countries,” Minister of Health Ponmek Dalaloy told the assembly Wednesday.”There will be more hotels and entertainment venues offering sex services and injected drugs,” Ponmek said in support of the legislation, which would promote public education about the virus. “All these factors could cause the virus to spread unless strong prevention measures are put in place,” he argued.

Uzbekistan: Negligent liability now added to HIV-specific criminal law

The Uzbek government has amended article 113 of Uzbekistan’s Criminal Code to allow for easier prosecution for medical negliglence resulting in HIV transmission, according to a report on eurasianet.org.

Article 113, passed in 1999 and enacted in 2001, criminalises both knowing HIV exposure and transmission, both of which are punishable by imprisonment from eight to ten years. According to the report it had

previously provided punishment of fines or arrest from 6 months to 3 years for “deliberately endangering another person by infecting them with a venereal disease or AIDS.” The new law specifies criminal liability of arrest for 6 months or imprisonment up to 5 years for such infection “as a result of non-fulfillment or negligence of professional duties”. This includes failing to keep instruments sterile, and failure to follow proper procedures for blood transfusions and other medical procedures.

The amendment to the law was likely inspired by the trial of 13 doctors and medical workers whose negligence allegedly resulted in 147 children in the Namangan and Namangan regions becoming HIV-positive.

Fourteen of the children later died. Prosecutors found that doctors had failed to sterilize catheters, had reused disposable syringes and needles for taking blood samples, and also had falsified sterilization records and later destroyed evidence. Twelve were sentenced to prison for 5-8 years. Nine other medical employees from district hospitals in Namagan region were investigated, but the government has not made any information available and ferghana.ru could not learn their fate. This year, another group of doctors in Andijan were also charged with infecting patients with HIV.

Uzbekistan is not known for its HIV-friendly policies. Last summer, HIV educator and advocate, Maxim Popov, was jailed for seven years allegedly for mismanagment of donor’s funds but ostensibly for “corruption of youth” for “possessing and distributing HIV/AIDS-prevention publications that were deemed offensive to Uzbek sensibilities.”

Last month, Uzbek President Karimov’s daughter, Gulnara Karimova, who is also the Uzbek ambassador to Spain, attended a fundraiser in Cannes sponsored by the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR).

Robert Frost, executive directof of amfAR, said he had raised Popov’s case with Karimova [and] she had promised to “look into the situation,” but nothing further has been heard from Karimova.

Ghana: Calls for new HIV-specific criminal law heeded by AIDS Commission

The Ghana AIDS Commission is undertaking a legal audit to establish whether there is a need for a new HIV-specific criminal law against “deliberate” transmission, according to a report from Ghanian radio station, Joy.

According to the report, some members of a PLHIV self-help group, Models of Hope, have claimed that the phenomenon of deliberate transmission is “very prevalent” in Ghana.

Reports say people get affected by the virus through another person’s premeditated action. Affected persons who have their conditions alleviated by antiretroviral drugs are said to deliberately spread the virus to unsuspecting persons by having unprotected sex with them. Some even go to radio stations to boast of their escapade, thus causing panic in those who have engaged in, most often, unprotected sex with them.

Dr Angela El-Adas, Director General of the Commission, told the radio station that “this legal audit will tell us what we have in terms of the legislative instruments that can enforce any action that we take or can back an action that we take”, but that the Commission is also mindful of the human rights of people living with HIV.

In 2006, the Ghana Chapter of the Society For Women Against AIDS In Africa (SWAA) began lobbying policymakers and parliamentarians to adopt a version the AWARE-HIV/AIDS model law. At the same time Ministry of Justice and the Attorney-General’s Office initiated a process to incorporate’ wilful transmission’ into the Criminal Code.

It was thought that the process has stalled by 2008, but since most of their neighbours already have passed HIV-specific criminal legislation based on this horrendous model law, it is not surprising that Ghana is following this path. Twelve other countries in Western Africa have passed their own adaptations of law since 2005 and at least 25 African countries now have HIV-specific criminal laws.

Uganda: Latest version of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Act introduced, HRW analysis

Yesterday, Beatrice Rwakimari, Chairperson of the Committee on HIV/AIDS and Related Matters introduced the latest version of the 2010 HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Act to the Ugandan parliament.

According to a press release from Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued yesterday:

“The bill contains measures that have been proven ineffective against the AIDS epidemic and that violate the rights of people living with HIV,” said Joe Amon, Health and Human Rights director at Human Rights Watch. “The HIV epidemic in Uganda is getting worse, and this bill is another example of misguided, ideological approaches and lack of leadership.”

The bill as currently written codifies discredited approaches to the AIDS epidemic and contains dangerously vague criminal provisions. Contrary to international best practices, the bill would criminalize HIV transmission and behavior that might result in transmission by those who know their HIV status.

The bill would discourage voluntary HIV testing, while making testing mandatory for pregnant women, their partners, suspected perpetrators and victims of sexual offenses, drug users, and prostitutes, in violation of fundamental principles of consent. The bill also allows medical practitioners to disclose a patient’s HIV status to others, breaching confidentiality standards. These provisions could potentially endanger those who are infected by exposing them to stigma, discrimination, and physical violence.

Last November, HRW and 50 Ugandan and international organisations commented on an earlier draft of the bill.

Since then, notes HRW, “the law was partially improved by removal of criminal penalty for the transmission of HIV from mother to child through breastfeeding.”

However, many problematic provisions remain including those relating to:

  • HIV testing and counseling, generally and among minors
  • Notification and disclosure obligations
  • Criminalisation of HIV transmission
  • Criminalisation of other conduct related to HIV/AIDS

Earlier this month, in a letter to Uganda’s Parliament, Human Rights Watch released an updated analysis of the bill which highlights:

numerous provisions that contravene the right to equal protection and non-discrimination under Uganda’s constitution and Uganda’s obligations under international human rights law. Furthermore, these provisions will ultimately prove counterproductive to reducing the burden of the HIV epidemic in the country.

HRW’s press release concludes:

“Like the anti-homosexuality bill, the HIV/AIDS bill tramples on rights and encourages stigma and intolerance,” Amon said. “The international community and Ugandan civil society have been vocal and clear about the problems in the bill. It is time for Uganda’s parliament to listen and amend these damaging provisions.”

Uganda: Minister’s turnaround on HIV bill raises concern (PLUSNews)

KAMPALA, 11 May 2010 (PlusNews) – Ugandan AIDS activists have expressed concern over a decision by the Ministry of Health to back an HIV/AIDS bill that would criminalize the deliberate transmission of HIV.

Last week, State Minister for Health in charge of General Duties, Richard Nduhura, appeared before the parliamentary committee on HIV to explain the government’s position on the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Bill (2009). Nduhura backtracked on his earlier position that portions of the bill would lead to discrimination and undermine the rights of people living with HIV.

“I am in support of the law as it is now,” he told IRIN/PlusNews.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has in the past stated that he “fully supports” an HIV/AIDS law that would criminalize deliberate transmission of the virus.

The bill, as well as another controversial proposed law, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009, has led to widespread criticism by human rights activists.

According to Stella Kentutsi, of the National Forum of People Living with AIDS Network in Uganda, the minister’s U-turn showed there was still a lack of understanding of its clauses and how they would affect people living with HIV.

“The biggest problem we have with this bill is lack of awareness; we think [Nduhura’s] comments were biased and influenced by parliament,” she said. “He needs to sit and think carefully, then make a decision that will balance both sides.”

Nduhura said he was convinced of his new position, and had not been unduly influenced by members of the parliamentary committee.

The forum has been raising awareness across the country about the bill, which is intended to provide a legal framework for the national response to HIV, as well as protect the rights of individuals affected by HIV. Many of its clauses seek to protect the rights of people living with HIV to healthcare, criminalize discrimination on the grounds of HIV status and uphold the principles of confidentiality and consent.

Contradictions

However, AIDS activists say the parts that criminalize the deliberate transmission of the virus are counter-productive; for instance, the bill outlaws attempted transmission of HIV and recommends life in prison for people found guilty of intentional transmission of HIV. Many activists have questioned how the government would prove deliberate transmission.

The bill further recommends that intravenous drug users, sex offenders and their victims, people charged with offences related to prostitution, and pregnant women and their partners be automatically tested for HIV. If passed, it would authorize medical practitioners to inform, at their discretion, people they felt were at risk of contracting HIV, such as an HIV-positive person’s spouse.

“If you push for a more severe or lesser punishment because someone is infected you are discriminating and undermining the rights of people living with HIV,” Kentutsi said. “Those who are HIV-infected should not be treated any differently.”

The bill is due to be tabled before parliament imminently, and stakeholders will have a chance to put forward their positions on its clauses.

“People should not lose sleep over the bill; that phrase [deliberate transmission] could be dropped or retained – there is still a lot of room to review it,” said Chris Baryomunsi, a member of parliament’s select committee on HIV.

China: New law punishes non HIV disclosure as “deliberate spread of AIDS” (update)

Update: December 3rd

Xinhuanet.com reports that a new law has been passed in Gansu province in north-western China mandating disclosure within a month of diagnosis. The short article makes it clear that non-disclosure will result a prosecution for “deliberate” HIV transmission, although the penalties are not clear.

A regulation adopted by the provincial health department requires HIV carriers and AIDS patients to inform their sexual partners within a month after they get their HIV test results, said Wang Xiaoming, vice director of the department on Wednesday. It also stipulates that HIV carriers and AIDS patients have a responsibility to persuade their sexual partners into receiving counselling and test. Violation of the regulation would be seen as deliberate spread of AIDS and the violators would be punished according to law, Wang said.


Original post: November 13th

Policymakers in Gansu province in north-western China are proposing to pass a law that makes disclosure of HIV-positive status mandatory within four weeks of diagnosis; if not they “face a lawsuit.”

China Daily reports that the measures are “widely considered well-intentioned but unrealistic.”

The regulation, now still a draft, issued by the Gansu health department on Monday, stipulates that upon getting the HIV confirmation from the clinics, the sufferer must tell his or her partners within a month about the infection, or face a lawsuit.

“The requirement featuring a one-month time limit is not human-oriented as sufferers who first learn of their HIV status need time to accept the harsh reality, let alone informing others of their condition,” said He Tiantian, who heads the Women’s Network against AIDS – China, a civil society supporting females living with HIV/AIDS.

[…]

“Some give fake documents to protect their privacy,” said Professor Jing Jun with Tsinghua University.
Among the 700,000 HIV/AIDS sufferers in China, only 270,000 can be tracked, he said. Regional surveys in the country showed that only one-third of the newly diagnosed HIV sufferers would disclose their infection to their partners.
“The Gansu regulation is good in intention while unrealistic in practice,” he noted. Those most likely to tell their partners are those who have been married for a long time. Other sufferers, especially prostitutes, often fail to inform their partners about the infection, he said.

Of note, the report does not mention a law proposed by the Chinese government in 2006, to prosecute “deliberate” HIV transmission. The two, are, of course related: in too many jurisdictions non-disclosure (even in the absence of significant risk, and definitely in the absence of transmission) is currently criminalised.

South Korea: Korean man gets 18 months for HIV exposure; calls for HIV-specific laws (updated)

Update: October 27th

The 26 year-old Korean taxi driver arrested in March was found guilty earlier this month under South Korea’s public health law for having unprotected sex without disclosure and has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Original post: 16th March

The arrest of an HIV-positive taxi driver in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province last week – originally for “habitually stealing women’s underwear” but now charged under public health law for having unprotected sex without disclosure with at least ten women – has resulted in a resurgence of panic around criminal HIV transmission in South Korea, and calls for HIV-specific criminal laws.

The case was first reported in English on March 13th in the Korea Times.

An AIDS patient in his 20s has had sex with dozens of women in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province, over the last six years, police have revealed. The Jecheon Police Station said Friday that the patient, identified as Chun, 27, had sexual relationships with waitresses and drunken passengers while working as a taxi driver since 2003.

More details emerged on March 14th at Donga.com.

Police said he neither told his sex partners of his infection nor used contraceptives. A police search of his house found packets of medicine along with women’s underwear. Police grilled Jeon on what the medicine was for and he confessed to being HIV-positive. Police sought an arrest warrant for him yesterday for violating an AIDS prevention law and began tracking the women who had sex with him.

On March 15th, the Korea Times reported that the local sexual health clinic had been flooded with requests for HIV testing following reports of the man’s arrest.

According to the regional office, 61 people have undergone HIV tests, about 12 times the usual figure, since the arrest of 27-year-old cab driver Jeon, Friday. The official said no one was yet found to have the virus, but it will forward test samples to a higher institute for close examination.

On a positive note, public health officials are being extremely responsible and informing the public that the risk of transmission from a single act of unprotected sex is low, particularly since the man is on effective treatment.

According to health authorities, however, chances are low that his sex partners were infected with the deadly virus. Since he was put under monitoring, he has got counseling and medical checkups 30 times and taken regular medication. This means he is as healthy as an ordinary person, a source at the disease control center said. (Donga.com)

However, experts said the likelihood of catching HIV from unprotected sexual activity with someone who is HIV-positive is a mere 0.5 percent. “Since Jeon had been taking drugs to control the virus, the odds could be even lower,” a health expert said. (Korea Times, 15/3/09)

Nevertheless, according to Donga.com.

Domestic law only prohibits those who are HIV-positive from working at entertainment establishments that require regular medical checkups of their employees. Calls are rising for authorities to draw up countermeasures to control the jobs and private lives of HIV-positive people.

And a Donga.com editorial on March 16th appears to support these calls.

The news of an HIV-infected taxi driver who had sex with scores of women has rocked the nation. Medical Web sites are being bombarded with inquiries about AIDS symptoms and applications for the HIV test have jumped ten-fold. Generally, HIV/AIDS patients avoid contact with people because contracting the disease is lethal for their weakened immune system. If a HIV-positive person attempts to purposely spread the disease, however, there is no way to block him or her from doing so. In the wake of the news, calls are rising that the 1987 AIDS prevention law is ineffective to stem the spread of the deadly disease. The country’s AIDS control and prevention system should be urgently revamped.

Update: March 16th, 5pm: An editorial today in the Korea Times blames the public health authorities rather than the individual himself.

It goes without saying that prevention is the best way of containing the spread of HIV/AIDS. Therefore, the government and the health authorities should establish a firm preventive system before it is too late.

Africa: HIV Laws Do More Harm Than Good by Miriam Mannak (IPS)

I received an email last week from Miriam Mannak, a freelance writer based in Cape Town, South Africa who keeps on blog on AIDS in Africa. She recently contributed this excellent piece on the spectre of criminalisation on her continent to the Inter Press Service News Agency, whose mission is to give voices to the voiceless.

 

AFRICA: HIV Laws Do More Harm Than Good by Miriam Mannak (IPS)

CAPE TOWN, Jul 30 (IPS) – In Sierra Leone, a mother who transmits HIV to her child can be fined, jailed for up to seven years, or both. Human Rights Watch reports that in 2008, several men were arrested in Egypt simply for being HIV positive. New legislation is currently being discussed in Angola that could lead to a three to ten year jail sentence for those who knowingly pass on HIV.

The legislation is inspired by a September 2004 workshop organised by the influential reproductive health organisation Family Health International developed an “African Model Law” intended to protect those who are infected and exposed to HIV.

But various civil society organisations fear that these legislative measures will hurt more than help the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Discourages testing, delays treatment

“If being HIV positive is being regarded as a crime, people will be less likely to get themselves tested,” said Johanna Kehler, director of the Aids Legal Network (ALN) – a South African non-governmental organisation that aims to protect the human rights of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.

“This means that they are more likely to spread the disease unknowingly, and will not have access to antiretrovirals that may help to prolong their lives.”

Jennifer Gatsi Mallet – coordinator of the Namibian branch of the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW), a global network run for and by HIV positive women – agrees with Kehler’s statements.

“The criminalisation of HIV will be yet another reason why people will stay away from testing facilities and clinics,” she said.

The International Planned Parenthood Federation, a global organisation that advocates sexual and reproductive health and rights, counts 58 countries around the world with laws in place to prosecute HIV transmission and 33 others that are considering passing such legislation. Of these, twenty are in Africa.

Women lose more

“Women will be the first ones in line to be prosecuted, as they are more likely to know their status compared to men, simply because they visit clinics more often, for instance during and after their pregnancy,” Kehler explained.

Gatsi Mallet added that in “many parts of Africa, clinics and men are like water in fire. While some accuse health facilities of being unfriendly to men because most of the health care workers are female, others consider visiting as unmanly, especially when it comes to HIV and other sexual related transmitted diseases,” she added.

“They therefore rather prefer to go to traditional healers, whom are in general more male orientated.”

Because women are more likely to discover they are HIV positive, their male partners often blame them for bringing the virus home – regardless of the fact that the infection may well have travelled the other way.

“Women across the world, including in Africa, experience difficulties negotiating safe sex,” Kehler said. “If a man does not want to use a condom, they often are left with no choice.”

Angela from Cape Town, who requested anonymity – contracted the virus a few years ago. “I never had sex with anyone else but my husband, but I suspected that he was sleeping around. I just knew. So sometimes I asked him to use a condom, but he always blatantly refused,” she explained.

“He said that a wife is supposed to trust her husband. When I went for prenatal care two years ago, I was told I was HIV-positive. After confronting my husband, he accused me of sleeping around and of infecting him. He threw me out of the house.”

In countries like Egypt, such an accusation could lead to prosecution. The same is true in Togo, where HIV-positive people are prohibited by law from having unprotected sex, regardless of whether they have disclosed their status to their partner.

“In case of prosecution, women are left in a terribly vulnerable position, as many do not have the resources to, for instance, prove that they were HIV negative before intercourse,” Kehler noted. “Neither can they prove if they did not do it deliberately.”

Laws against mother to child transmission (MTCT) should also be banned, the ALN argues.

An HIV-positive mother can pass the virus to her child during pregnancy, whilst giving birth, or through breast feeding. Of the 370,000 cases of MTCT each year, about 90 percent occur in Africa, according to UNAIDS.

In countries like Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali and Niger, a mother can be criminally charged if she does not take steps to prevent HIV transmission to baby, including taking antiretrovirals during the pregnancy.

MTCT is almost entirely preventable, by taking antiretrovirals and giving birth in a sterile environment. Breast feeding poses certain risks: WHO studies indicate that a mother who is HIV positive risks passing the virus on to her child. But in certain situations – for example where a mother does not have access to clean water to mix formula and sterilise bottles, but is on antiretrovirals – exclusive breastfeeding is recommended.

Formula-fed babies in developing countries are six times more likely to die from diseases like diarrhoea and respiratory infections than breast-fed babies, according to WHO.

“The problem is that many African women do not have access to proper health care facilities and cannot afford formula,” Kehler said. “These are things governments should provide. If they fail, they should be the ones that are to be held accountable for MTCT.”

SIDEBAR: Who’s responsible for MTCT?Chantelle Heunis* from Overcome Heights – an informal settlement near Cape Town – was infected by her now ex-husband with the disease in 1999. At the time she was pregnant with her second daughter.

“I only found out after my baby was three months old, after I went for a check-up as she was ill due to lactose intolerance. The nurse offered to test me for HIV – which was not a routine procedure back in the days. The results came back positive.”

The next step was to test the baby. “It was dreadful, but thank god she was found HIV negative,” Heunis said. “She is ten years old now, and as healthy as can be.”

According to Heunis, it should not be allowed for women to be punished for MTCT. “I was lucky because I was in good hands, but many women do not have this privilege. They transmit the virus through unhygienic birthing practices, for instance, or because they do not have access to ARVs to prevent MTCT.”

She also rejects the notion that HIV positive women should not be allowed to have children. “It is within our rights to have children. Besides, if a mother is HIV positive, that does not mean the baby is also.”

* not her real name.

Editorial: Burden of HIV disclosure falls on Uganda’s women

An article in today’s Toronto Star highlights the heavy burden that HIV-positive women will carry under Uganda’s proposed HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Law.

In the article, children’s rights activists, Marc and Craig Kielburger, note that many HIV-positive women in Uganda – who are likely to be tested before their husbands as part of ante-natal screening – face violence and even death for disclosing their HIV status to their husbands. They highlight the fate of Glorius Kyarihunda, 25, who was murdered by her husband within days of disclosing her HIV status to him.

According to the Ugandan branch of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, Glorius was one of five women murdered in 2008 under similar circumstances. Thousands more suffered abuse or eviction. In a survey of just one district by ActionAid Uganda, 100 out of 465 women said they experienced domestic violence as a result of disclosing their status.Disclosure is not only difficult, it’s dangerous. Yet, just months after Glorius’ death, the Ugandan Parliament is debating a bill that gives a person six weeks after testing positive to tell their partner before the government does.

Given the inequalities in both inter-personal relationships, and the legal status of women in Uganda, this is simply unfair, they argue given:

the rules of predominantly male-dominated societies leave women unable to negotiate condom use or family planning. Many men, like Glorius’ husband, hold their wives responsible for infection.

The article then goes on to critique other criminal HIV transmission laws in Africa:

In Togo, anyone who doesn’t use a condom in “all risky sexual relations” is breaking the law while Guinea requires mandatory testing before marriage. In Zimbabwe, a woman was convicted for “deliberately infecting another person.” Her lover has never tested positive for the virus. In Sierra Leone, women can also be criminalized for exposing their infants to HIV.

That this anti-criminalisation article was published in a Canadian paper is somewhat ironic given the number of prosecutions taking place there, but then there is often a lack of joined-up-thinking in many low-prevalence countries when it comes international concern about AIDS and domestic HIV policies.