Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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New Vision (Kampala) - November 28, 2001
Anne Mugisa
Doctors are themselves divided on whether HIV/AIDS victims must be forcefully labelled. The opponents of the law are worried that labelling the victims would raise human rights and social issues which would reverse the gains that the country has made in the fight against the disease.
Several lawyers told The New Vision on Monday that making HIV/AIDS a notifiable disease would drive the victims underground, with disastrous consequences. They said the victims would have all the right to hide because labelling them reeks of discrimination against them.
The doctors advocating the labelling of the victims say those carrying the virus would be easily identified which would save those dealing with them.
They said the Government should enact a law making HIV testing compulsory so that those whose sero-status is positive should be prevented from marriage. Several lawyers said attempts to make HIV/AIDS a notifiable disease failed in the late 1980s for obvious reasons.
They said HIV transmission is not like a contagious diseases and its major means of transmission are known and avoidable.
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