GUYANA GETS IT RIGHT: THE CRIMINALISATION OF HIV WON'T WORK
By THE UNAIDS CARIBBEAN REGIONAL SUPPORT TEAM (RST)
SHOULD there be laws targeting people who deliberately infect others with HIV? On Thursday Guyana's National Assembly answered that question in a rational and progressive way. They said "no."
The move may be counterintuitive for many in our region. Concern about having the world's second highest HIV prevalence has motivated people to call for tougher strategies in the HIV response. With an adult HIV prevalence of 3.1 per cent support for criminalisation in The Bahamas reflects a desire to reduce the spread of the virus while exacting justice for those who were intentionally infected.
In investigating that option Guyana set up a Special Select Committee of Parliament on the Criminal Responsibility of HIV Infected Individuals which considered written and oral submissions from various stakeholders for more than a year. At last week's parliamentary sitting Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, explained that not only was there no proof that criminalisation reduced the spread of HIV, but it could also be dangerous.
"It merely encourages individuals not to get tested and increases the stigma and discrimination against those who are positive," Dr Ramsammy said. UNAIDS supports this view. Such laws would deepen the climate of denial, secrecy and fear surrounding the virus and in so doing reduce people's willingness to learn their status and access treatment and support. Ironically, a measure meant to reduce the spread of HIV could lead to its increase.
There is a minority of persons who deliberately transmit HIV with intent to harm others and they should face appropriate criminal prosecution. For these cases there is no need to create HIV-specific legislation. The alternative is to use existing laws relating to assault and criminal negligence under the Offences against the Person Act. In determining whether an act of transmission should attract criminal penalties the complexities of human sexual behaviour must be carefully and fairly discerned. What are the reasonable and enforceable lines between criminal and non-criminal behaviour when it comes to HIV transmission?
There are several circumstances in which an HIV positive person either does not present a significant risk of transmission or does not have criminal intent. Does the individual know that he is HIV positive? Does she understand how HIV is transmitted? Did he tell his partner that he was HIV positive or believe that his partner knew his status? Did she practice safe sex and regularly take medications? Was there an understanding that intimacy involved a certain degree of risk? A criminal law specifically related to HIV would cast all persons living with the virus as potential criminals and intensify the hysteria surrounding the virus.
Many in the Caribbean have pointed to the fact that other territories, including some American states and European nations have adopted the approach. But many of the countries that have enacted laws related to the criminalisation of HIV are now reviewing their stance because of the negative implications for public health and human rights. In February Denmark's Minister of Justice announced the suspension of an HIV-specific criminal law. Last year the United States' National AIDS Strategy raised concerns about such state laws while an official committee was set up in Norway to inform revision of their equivalent Penal Code provision.
The Bahamas must within the next two years reduce its number of new infections significantly. Criminalisation won't accomplish this, but more effective prevention programmes can. There is need for improved access to sound information, services and support for all individuals including young people, men who have sex with men, sex workers and prisoners. There should be greater access to voluntary counseling and testing and age-appropriate sexuality education. Sexually active people should be able to obtain condoms and personal lubricants. In addition, interventions are needed to support HIV positive people in disclosing and practicing safer sex. We must all continue combating stigma and discrimination so that people can make healthy, responsible and safe choices about their lives, including decisions relating to sex and reproduction.
Strides in the HIV response are hard-won but possible. This year, scientists revealed that early treatment has been proven to be 96 percent effective in preventing transmission between couples. There is hope. But it lies in a combination of comprehensive legal reforms to address discrimination and vulnerability and policy directives to improve the reach and quality of prevention and treatment programmes. The criminalisation of HIV transmission won't help.
September 12, 2011
tribune242
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Showing posts with label HIV prevalence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HIV prevalence. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Thursday, July 15, 2010
The Bahamas is "on track" to reduce HIV/AIDS among young people by 25 per cent this year
Bahamas 'on track' for 25% HIV/AIDS drop in young people
By ALISON LOWE
Tribune Staff Reporter
alowe@tribunemedia.net:
THE Bahamas is "on track" to reduce HIV/AIDS among young people by 25 per cent this year, according to the United Nations HIV/AIDS programme.
As a country that bears a "high burden" of HIV/AIDS prevalence compared with other countries globally - with around three per cent of the population known to be infected with the virus - it was also noted in this year's UNAIDS report as one which is making significant strides towards curtailing its prevalence within its borders.
"A ground-breaking study for UNAIDS led by the International Group on Analysis of trends in HIV prevalence and behaviours among young people shows that these countries with high burden of HIV have either achieved or are on track to achieve the international goal of reducing HIV prevalence among young people by 25 per cent in 2010, as agreed at the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994," said the UNAID's "Outlook 2010" report released yesterday.
Sixteen out of 25 countries most affected by HIV/AIDS have seen HIV rates among young people fall - a "breakthrough essential for breaking the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic," according to UNAIDS.
Those countries that have achieved the 25 per cent reduction goal already are: Botswana, Cote D'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Eighty per cent of young people living with HIV/AIDS live in sub Sahara Africa.
The Bahamas was identified as one of those countries "likely to achieve" the 25 per cent goal, along with Burundi, Lesotho, Rwanda, Swaziland and Haiti.
This news comes after Dr Perry Gomez, Director of the National HIV/AIDS Programme in The Bahamas revealed in a press conference in October 2009 that if infection trends seen in the early part of that year continued to year end there would be an overall rise in the number of new HIV infections in 2009 over the previous year.
At around the same time, Health Minister Dr Hubert Minnis released the findings of a study involving public and private school students, between the ages of 15 and 17 in New Providence and the Family Islands, which he said showed that while some youngsters are knowledgeable about the deadly virus, many are not taking the necessary precautions to prevent it.
Following the study's findings, Dr Minnis suggested health policy-makers, planners and professionals must redouble their efforts to ensure that young people take HIV/AIDS as seriously as they should.
The Tribune could not reach Dr Gomez and Camille Barnett, President of the AIDS Foundation, for comment on the UNAIDS Outlook report yesterday.
UNAIDS' latest report on the state of the fight against the potentially deadly HIV/AIDS virus shows that countries that saw the greatest shift in the number of young people contracting the disease included Kenya, whose infection rates were down 60 per cent between 2000 and 2005; Ethiopia, where there was a 47 per cent change in HIV prevalence among pregnant young women in urban areas and 29 per cent in rural areas; Malawi and Cote d'Ivoire HIV where prevalence among pregnant urban young women declined by 56 per cent and Burundi and the Bahamas' near neighbour, Haiti, where prevalent dropped by around half.
The report said that in 13 countries, the declines in prevalence were associated with notable reported changes in behaviour among young people, such as waiting longer before they become sexually active and using condoms.
At present there are around 5 million young people living with HIV worldwide, making up about 40 per cent of new infections.
According to UNAIDS' estimates there were 33.4 million people living with HIV worldwide at the end of 2008. In the same year there were nearly 2.7 million new HIV infections and 2 million AIDS-related deaths.
The Bahamas recently signed on to become a beneficiary of the US President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which will allow the country to benefit from up to $2.5 million in grants from the US Government over the next three years towards fighting HIV/AIDS.
July 14, 2010
tribune242
By ALISON LOWE
Tribune Staff Reporter
alowe@tribunemedia.net:
THE Bahamas is "on track" to reduce HIV/AIDS among young people by 25 per cent this year, according to the United Nations HIV/AIDS programme.
As a country that bears a "high burden" of HIV/AIDS prevalence compared with other countries globally - with around three per cent of the population known to be infected with the virus - it was also noted in this year's UNAIDS report as one which is making significant strides towards curtailing its prevalence within its borders.
"A ground-breaking study for UNAIDS led by the International Group on Analysis of trends in HIV prevalence and behaviours among young people shows that these countries with high burden of HIV have either achieved or are on track to achieve the international goal of reducing HIV prevalence among young people by 25 per cent in 2010, as agreed at the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994," said the UNAID's "Outlook 2010" report released yesterday.
Sixteen out of 25 countries most affected by HIV/AIDS have seen HIV rates among young people fall - a "breakthrough essential for breaking the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic," according to UNAIDS.
Those countries that have achieved the 25 per cent reduction goal already are: Botswana, Cote D'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Eighty per cent of young people living with HIV/AIDS live in sub Sahara Africa.
The Bahamas was identified as one of those countries "likely to achieve" the 25 per cent goal, along with Burundi, Lesotho, Rwanda, Swaziland and Haiti.
This news comes after Dr Perry Gomez, Director of the National HIV/AIDS Programme in The Bahamas revealed in a press conference in October 2009 that if infection trends seen in the early part of that year continued to year end there would be an overall rise in the number of new HIV infections in 2009 over the previous year.
At around the same time, Health Minister Dr Hubert Minnis released the findings of a study involving public and private school students, between the ages of 15 and 17 in New Providence and the Family Islands, which he said showed that while some youngsters are knowledgeable about the deadly virus, many are not taking the necessary precautions to prevent it.
Following the study's findings, Dr Minnis suggested health policy-makers, planners and professionals must redouble their efforts to ensure that young people take HIV/AIDS as seriously as they should.
The Tribune could not reach Dr Gomez and Camille Barnett, President of the AIDS Foundation, for comment on the UNAIDS Outlook report yesterday.
UNAIDS' latest report on the state of the fight against the potentially deadly HIV/AIDS virus shows that countries that saw the greatest shift in the number of young people contracting the disease included Kenya, whose infection rates were down 60 per cent between 2000 and 2005; Ethiopia, where there was a 47 per cent change in HIV prevalence among pregnant young women in urban areas and 29 per cent in rural areas; Malawi and Cote d'Ivoire HIV where prevalence among pregnant urban young women declined by 56 per cent and Burundi and the Bahamas' near neighbour, Haiti, where prevalent dropped by around half.
The report said that in 13 countries, the declines in prevalence were associated with notable reported changes in behaviour among young people, such as waiting longer before they become sexually active and using condoms.
At present there are around 5 million young people living with HIV worldwide, making up about 40 per cent of new infections.
According to UNAIDS' estimates there were 33.4 million people living with HIV worldwide at the end of 2008. In the same year there were nearly 2.7 million new HIV infections and 2 million AIDS-related deaths.
The Bahamas recently signed on to become a beneficiary of the US President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which will allow the country to benefit from up to $2.5 million in grants from the US Government over the next three years towards fighting HIV/AIDS.
July 14, 2010
tribune242
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