Venezuela: Over 7,700 Venezuelans in need of HIV/AIDS treatment have left their country

A chance to live: The quest of Venezuelan refugees and migrants with HIV/AIDS

A chance to live: The quest of Venezuelan refugees and migrants with HIV/AIDS

By Marta Martinez in Lima. Also available in: Français (French), Español (Spanish), عربي (Arabic)

Over 7,700 Venezuelans in need of HIV/AIDS treatment have left their country and face additional challenges in their journey to safety and medical care.

Sitting on a crowded bus about to reach Lima, Peru, after seven days on the road and thousands of kilometres away from his home country of Venezuela, Arturo* started to feel terrified. The 47-year-old wondered about getting access to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) medication: “Will I die in this country where I do not know anyone?”

Over three million refugees and migrants have left Venezuela to date. The lack of medicine has forced thousands – especially those with chronic illnesses such as HIV/AIDS – to search for treatment and hope in other countries.

For people living with HIV/AIDS, having access to antiretroviral treatment means not only a chance to survive, but to lead a normal life. Over 7,700 Venezuelans live with the condition outside of their home country and are in need of antiretroviral therapy, according to UNAIDS.

Arturo was diagnosed in 2000. He had a comfortable, healthy life as a hair and make-up stylist in  Caracas, Venezuela until about two years ago, when access to antiretroviral medication was shrinking.

“I was really scared of not having any medication.”

To get the daily pills he needed, he was forced to resort to friends who were doctors. But soon it became even more cumbersome. Arturo felt he only had one option.

“This marked my decision to leave,” he says. “I was really scared of not having any medication.”

Since he left less than six months ago, Arturo says that five of his friends with HIV/AIDS who remained in Venezuela have died.

Countries like Peru and Mexico have recognized some cases of Venezuelans with HIV as refugees. However, there is no regional response in Latin America that guarantees access to antiretroviral medication for Venezuelan refugees and migrants with HIV/AIDS. Their access to treatment depends on each of the countries’ policies, and they vary greatly from one country to another.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and UNAIDS are providing technical support to national NGOs working to establish a regional network that will allow people with HIV to safely contact clinics, hospitals, shelters and other organizations providing humanitarian assistance to those searching for treatment outside Venezuela.

“Refugees and migrants from Venezuela living with HIV need access to life-saving antiretroviral treatment and care in host countries as well as consistent access to targeted HIV prevention information, education and communication, voluntary counselling, testing and condoms,” says UNAIDS regional programme adviser Alejandra Corao.

Not providing easy access to antiretroviral treatment can develop into a public health issue because it can increase the risk of HIV antiretroviral resistance and the number of new HIV infections, Corao adds.

Refugees and migrants may avoid going to the hospital for fear of being discriminated due to their condition or – if they do not have legal residence – of being deported. That increases the risk of transmission in host countries.

To his surprise, it only took Arturo 20 days to start treatment in Lima. “The medical attention was wonderful,” he says. “I immediately got into treatment. Everyone was very respectful.”

In Peru, access to antiretroviral medication is free. However, availability and effective access are not always guaranteed. UNHCR’s partner organization PROSA reported three cases of Venezuelans with HIV/AIDS they have been monitoring who died because they did not get timely access to retroviral treatment. Civil society actors report eight cases in total.

“As soon as I told them about my condition, they asked me to leave. They said I could infect others.”

In addition, most refugees and migrants do not have access to the public health system – for instance, when it comes to treatment of other conditions developed from HIV.

“We demand universal coverage,” says Julio Rondinel, a Peruvian psychologist who supports Venezuelan refugees and migrants with HIV in his therapy group at CCEFIRO Association. “Consuming antiretroviral medication for long periods of time generates metabolic syndromes, like diabetes or high blood pressure.”

Due to their uniquely vulnerable condition, Venezuelans with HIV/AIDS can apply for  extraordinary residency in Peru. To qualify for it, they need to provide a medical exam and go through some health controls, which can amount to some 170 soles (US$50).

“Ensuring broader access to health care is essential for the most vulnerable, like refugees and migrants with HIV/AIDS, whose lives depend on it,” says UNHCR acting Representative in Peru, Sabine Waehning.

Willy’s arrival in Peru was not as positive as Arturo’s. The 22-year-old was diagnosed with HIV in September 2017 in Venezuela, and the doctor was blunt in his recommendation: “If you stay here, you will die.”

After some months in Colombia and Ecuador, Willy made it to Peru’s capital in August. He spent his first 10 days in a shelter. “As soon as I told them about my condition, they asked me to leave,” Willy recalls. “They said I could infect others.”

Thanks to non-profit organizations such as PROSA and AHF, he was able to undergo the necessary medical exams to access treatment. When it comes to antiretroviral therapy in Peru, Willy has only praising words. The medical attention was “top notch” and he quickly started treatment.

“Here you feel safe.”

Willy is now trying to complete his medical tests, so that he can apply for extraordinary residency. “If you don’t have it, it’s very difficult to find a job,” he says.

Darwin, 29, feels like he is now contributing to helping others as a volunteer with AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) in Lima. He advocates for access to treatment and support for both Peruvians and Venezuelans, and accompanies newly arrived Venezuelans with HIV/AIDS to the hospital and supports them in their quest to access antiretroviral treatment.

If he had stayed in Venezuela, Darwin would have died. After three months without medication – because antiretrovirals were impossible to find in hospitals and too expensive to buy in the black market – he got very sick with a stomach virus. He became so weak that he could not walk. He lost 34 kilograms in four months. Darwin said to himself, “I am not going to surrender, I want to keep living.”

Darwin found safety in Peru a year ago. For him, host countries should be more conscious of the fact that anyone can become a refugee: “It’s like HIV. We are all exposed. No one is safe from that risk.”

Arturo recently got his extraordinary residency. He is now taking eight pills a day and works as a hair stylist in Lima. Leaving his home was hard, but he is thankful to Peru. “It is not easy because when you come you’re lacking so many things,” Arturo says. “But here you feel safe.”

Israel: Expulsion threatens lives of HIV-positive Eritrean and Sudanese migrants receiving treatment in Israel

Israel AIDS Task Force demands asylum seekers with HIV not be deported

The Health Ministry is currently treating 184 Eritrean and Sudanese migrants for HIV.

The Israel AIDS Task Force is imploring the government to allow Eritrean and Sudanese migrants with HIV to remain in treatment in Israel amid the pending April 1 mass expulsion of 20,000 unmarried African men of working age.

Out of a total population of 38,000 African migrants in Israel, the Health Ministry estimates there are approximately 400 with HIV.

According to Israel AIDS Task Force’s coordinator, Tal Aberman, 207 have been identified and 184 are being treated via the ministry’s National HIV Prevention and Treatment Program for Immigrants.

Among the patients in treatment, Aberman estimates that 30 are slated to be deported to an unnamed country, widely believed to be Rwanda or Uganda.

“When we learned on January 1 that the Interior Ministry decided to deport asylum seekers from Sudan and Eritrea, we contacted the government and demanded that people living with HIV not be deported,” she said on Tuesday.

“We also contacted UNHCR and tried to get all possible information to learn if they do get deported to Rwanda if they will get medical treatment, and the conclusion was that they will not. So, the bottom line is that the government is deporting people getting treatment in Israel and living a healthy life and sending them to their deaths.”

Aberman said the NGO has yet to receive a response from the Interior Ministry.

“It has been radio silence so far,” she lamented.

To date, Aberman said all African HIV patients have been given letters from UNHCR stating their condition, and informing the government that they will not receive treatment in Rwanda.

Asked if she was concerned about whether the stigma of having HIV would create more anti-African migrant sentiment, Aberman noted that 207 people out of 8.7 million should not be cause for alarm.

“We are allowing these people to live a healthy life and get medication, so why not let them stay here,” she said. “Also, we are past stigmatization, because the press and government already call them ‘cancer,’ ‘terrorists,’ and ‘criminals,’ anyway.”

In the meantime, Aberman said the Israel AIDS Task Force has received ongoing support from UNHCR, multiple NGOs, and the Health Ministry, which is providing medication and treatment at no cost.

“I think that it is very important to say that we are getting a lot of help and support, which is helping us in reaching out to the African community to get tested and find treatment.”

Russia: European Court of Human Rights rules that Russia must compensate a Ukrainian woman deported based on her HIV status

English version – Translation (For Russian version, please scroll down)

European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Russia to pay 15,000 euros compensation to a Ukrainian citizen for her family separation due to her HIV status.

Lawyer Irina Khrunova, representing the interests of the applicant, stated that the court found Russia was guilty of violating the right to respect for family life and of excessive interference in a person’s private life.

Khrunova said her client had lived in Russia since the early 2000s and met her future husband there. When in 2012 a woman was traveling from Ukraine to Sochi, the border officers did not let her into the country, citing the ruling of Rospotrebnadzor came into effect on undesirability of stay HIV-positive non-citizens in Russia.

The Ukrainian’s appeal against this decision had failed in Russian courts.

Европейский суд по правам человека (ЕСПЧ) обязал Россию выплатить 15 тысяч евро компенсации гражданке Украины, разлученной с семьей из-за ВИЧ.

Адвокат Ирина Хрунова, представляющая интересы заявительницы, сообщила, что суд признал правительство России виновным в нарушении статьи об уважении семейной жизни и излишнем вмешательстве в личную жизнь человека.

Хрунова рассказала, что ее подзащитная жила в России с начала 2000-х годов и познакомилась здесь со своим будущим мужем. Когда в 2012 году женщина ехала из Украины в Сочи, пограничники не пустили ее в страну, сославшись на вступившее в силу постановление Роспотребнадзора о нежелательности пребывания в России ВИЧ-положительных неграждан.

Обжаловать это решение в российских судах украинке не удалось.

Originally published in Radio Svoboda

Turkmenistan: New law provides free HIV treatment but mandates HIV testing prior to marriage, and for people who use drugs, prisoners, blood donors and foreigners seeking work visas.

Turkmenistan has passed a law under which all people seeking a marriage license must be tested for HIV.

The law implies that anyone found to be infected with the virus that is the precursor to AIDS would be denied a marriage license.

Reports in state-controlled media on April 6 said the law was enacted “in order to create conditions for forming healthy families and avert the birth of HIV-infected children.”

Authoritarian Turkmenistan has given little public information about the extent of HIV infection in the country.

The new law also requires HIV tests for anyone suspected of using narcotics, foreigners seeking work visas, prisoners, and blood donors.

Under the legislation signed by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, the government will guarantee free treatment to people infected with AIDS.

In 2002, Turkmenistan’s Health Ministry claimed the country had only two cases of HIV and that both patients had been infected outside the Central Asian state.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP

South Korea: Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says mandating HIV testing only for foreigners is "discriminatory and an affront to..dignity"

A New Zealand woman’s rights were violated when her employers in the Republic of Korea demanded that, as a foreign English teacher, she undergo HIV/AIDS and drug tests as a condition of having her contract renewed, United Nations experts have found.

The Geneva-based Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) was considering the case of the woman, whose contract was not renewed in 2009 after she refused to undergo a secondary mandatory HIV test required only of foreigners, arguing it was “discriminatory and an affront to her dignity.”

In a statement released by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) today, CERD members noted that the Republic of Korea did not provide any reasons to justify the mandatory testing, from which Korean and ethnic Korean teachers were exempt.

They also noted that, during arbitration proceedings, the woman’s employers, the Uslan Metropolitan Office of Education (UMOE), said that HIV/AIDS tests were viewed as a means to check the values and morality of foreign English teachers.

The testing policy, the Committee wrote in its findings , “does not appear to be justified on public health grounds or any other ground, and is a breach of the right to work without distinction to race, colour, national or ethnic origin.”

The Committee called on the Republic of Korea to grant the woman adequate compensation for the moral and material damages she suffered. The Committee also urged the authorities to take steps to review regulations and policies related to the employment of foreigners and to abolish, in law and in practice, any legislation which creates or perpetuates racial discrimination.

“The Committee recommends the State party to counter any manifestations of xenophobia, through stereotyping or stigmatizing, of foreigners by public officials, the media and the public at large,” members wrote. The Committee has asked the Republic of Korea to inform it within 90 days of the steps it has taken.

In its submission to the Committee, the Republic of Korea said that, since 2010, its guidelines on the employment of foreign teachers do not specify that they have to submit results of HIV/AIDS and drugs tests to have their contracts renewed, and that mandatory testing is no longer required by the UMOE.