PANOS London - February 19, 1997
Pudenciana Temba

A group of top lawyers, policy makers and doctors last month agreed to target those found guilty of abusing the human rights of people with HIV/AIDS. And last summer the government announced plans to ban AIDS-discrimination.

HIV threatens the human rights and dignity of millions of people worldwide.

Until now most governments in East Africa, the region most seriously affetd by the disease, have concentrated on policies designed to prevent the spread of the virus. These include condom promotion and information campaigns.

Increasingly, however, protection of the human rights of people with HIV/AIDS has been seen as a key element in AIDS prevention.

Experts say discrimination only pushes people with HIV/AIDS underground and en courages its spread.

In Tanzania, there had been few formal moves to address human rights abuses against people with HIV, save last summer's announcement. But if the outcome of a recent workshop in Dar es Salaam is any indication, things could change for the better.

For a start, policy makers in Tanzania are being criticised by rights activists for being slow to recognise human rights abuses against people with HIV.

"No cases have been brought to cout few articles have been written and many nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) say the do not have the capacity to deal with the problem and no special programmes had been developed to help them," says Ann Strode, a human rights lawyer working for the United Nations to help Tanzania implement its new anti-discrimination policy.

The workshop on Law Ethics and Human rights and HIV/AIDS provided a forum for views on implementation with doctors, magistrates, policy makers and people living with HIV participating.

The workshop comes out of a UN initiative that has been followed in many developing countries.

In 1992, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), responding to reports of widespread discrimination against people with HIV, began to encourage countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to establish regional networks on ethics, law and HIV.

Made up of doctors, lawyers, NGOs and others, the networks aim to influence existing legislation and develop new policies to protect the rights of people with HIV and those particularly vulnerable to infection, such as women, migrant labourers and prisoners.

Tanzania is the fifteenth country to establish such a network - the workshop was organised by the network. Others countries include Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Senegal and Cote d'Ivoire.

Tanzania is among the countries most seriously affected by HIV. About 400,000 of its 27 million people have developed AIDS and 1.2 million are thought to be HIV-positive, according to the World Health Organisation.

The number of infected people is expected to double by the year 2000. Poverty, gender inequality and sexually transmitted diseases are believed to contribute to the spread of HIV in Tanzania.

Few formal studies of discrimination against people with HIV have been conducted in Tanzania, but the workshop heard testimonies from six people which illustrated how those infected must bear not only the burden of the disease but also discrimination.

Some had lost their jobs; a widow whose husband died of AIDS had been prevented from inheriting his property; a man told of being tested for HIV without his consent; and another was denied insurance. Most described being rejected by their immediate communities.

Even medical professionals discriminate against patients with HIV, according to Dr Yohana Mashalla from the Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences. Some doctors disclose information about patients without patient-consent. Others refuse adequate treatment.

A study in Tanzania and Kenya revealed that some nurses had a negative attitude toward the duty to care for patients with AIDS, Mashalla said.

The workshop heard how discrimination against people with HIV in Tanzania was not only a social problem, but was also rooted in laws not designed to address AIDS issues.

Guidelines on testing, control and management of HIV, issued by the Ministry of Healt h in 1989 and based on international norms, had failed to potect the rights of infected people.

A number of laws, including the Criminal Procedures Act 1985, require doctors to tender medical reports before the courts, exposing people with HIV to discrimination, particularly in prisons.

Labour laws permit organisations with in-house medical facilities to force employees to undergo HIV testing. Those found positive are sent home or sacked - so they lose access to medical care as well as employment.

Under the country's Evidence Act, rape victims are required to provide an excessive burden of proof which, according to legal experts, violates their privacy, particularly if there is a question of HIV transmission.

At the workshop, participants recommended a review of the national AIDS policy and changes in the law. There were strong calls for a ban on HIV-testing by employers, and for police officers and prison wardens to be trained on the legal aspects of HIV/AIDS .

Legal support services for people with HIV facing discrimination are also needed. And a computer database will now be used to monitor rights abuses of people with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania.

How well the new national networks succeed remains to be seen. All existing networks will have to present evaluations of their work to the UNDP at a conference in Cote d'Ivoire in May. Observers hope that progress in Tanzania will be swift. (END/PANOS/PT/DDS/97)

970219
PS970201

Copyright © 1997 - Panos Institute. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Panos Institute, Permissions Desk, 9 White Lion St., London N1 9PD, UK TEL: (+44) 171 278 1111 FAX: (+44) 171 278 0345  http://www.oneworld.org/panos/
Email:panos@panoslondon.org.uk