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Uganda Criminalises HIV Transmission by Dbestmax(m): 7:11am On Aug 23, 2014 |
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni signed legislation this week criminalising the transmission of HIV, a measure that allows doctors to violate confidentiality and disclose their patients’ HIV status without consent and calls for mandatory testing for pregnant women and their partners in violation of their human rights. While the “HIV Prevention and AIDS Control Bill” was created in an effort to curb the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country, the law as written poses serious human rights violations that infringe on Ugandans’ right to privacy and right to be free from discrimination. The law calls for a sentencing of up to 5 years for individuals found guilty of transmitting HIV. Furthermore, the bill singles out women in the country, subjecting survivors of s*xual assault and pregnant women to routine HIV blood testing—a provision that fosters discrimination in the health care system, deepens the stigma of HIV and AIDS among those groups, and discourages women from seeking essential health care. “No one should ever fear discrimination or imprisonment when trying to access essential medical care in her or his country—regardless of HIV status or other health needs,” said Evelyne Opondo, regional director for Africa at the Centre for Reproductive Rights. “Rather than passing a measure that effectively address the very real challenges that exist in curbing the spread and treatment of HIV and AIDS, this law inflicts punishment, shame, and fear on men and women in Uganda, including pregnant women who desperately need and deserve quality maternal health care.” Under this new law, medical and health practitioners are allowed to disclose or release HIV test results without a patient’s consent. Non-consensual disclosure of HIV status places women at risk of physical, s*xual, and psychological abuse. In 2008 alone, five women in Uganda were murdered by their husbands after the men learned about their wives’ HIV-positive status. Cases of discrimination against pregnant women living with HIV have occurred in many parts of the world, including Uganda and Namibia where 15 women who were sterilized without their consent brought a complaint against the government. www.informationng.com/2014/08/uganda-criminalises-hiv-transmission.html |
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