Panafrican News Agency - December 3, 2001
Scott said such forum should involve lawyers, doctors, caregivers, social workers, civil society and members of the international community.
She suggests that the forum must first seek to determine whether the current "decisional laws, statutes and constitution contain appropriate response which commensurate with the realities of the incidence, conditions and implications of this disease."
Justice Scott stressed that "this has to be done urgently."
At the end of the forum, she said proposals for legislation would ensure the protection of the rights of HIV/AIDS positive persons and their attending duties, obligations and responsibilities as well as those of the state to protect public interest.
Scott said, with the population of those affected by HIV/AIDS put at between 8.2 percent and 12 percent in Liberia, and considering Liberia as a polygamous society, the prevalence rate was "frighteningly high."
Scott warned that the current state of affairs "could translate and accelerate into a national disaster and emergency" if appropriate public health measures and policies are not developed.
In a related development, health minister Peter Coleman expressed delight that awareness on the pandemic was gaining a foothold with the proliferation of community-based organizations spreading the message about the disease.
He made special mention of the involvement of religious leaders who have now put away their inhibition and have begun educating their congregation about the dangers of HIV/AIDS.
"This gives us a glimmer of hope that very soon we will return to our moral values," Dr Coleman.
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