More countries make spreading HIV a crime

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More countries make spreading HIV a crime

By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer Cheng, Ap Medical Writer Thu Nov 13,

9:18 am ET

LONDON – An increasing number of countries worldwide are making spreading HIV

a crime, according to a new report from the International Planned Parenthood

Federation.

Health officials fear the trend could undermine gains made in fighting the AIDS

pandemic and provoke a surge in cases. Globally, about 33 million people are

thought to have HIV and nearly 3 million people are newly infected

every year.

" If the law is applied badly, this could set us back and do incredible damage, "

said de Lay, an AIDS expert at UNAIDS, who was not involved in the report.

De

Lay said the laws could result in forced testing and drive the epidemic

underground as people hide their HIV status, allowing the virus to

spread unnoticed.

According to Planned

Parenthood, 58 countries worldwide have laws that criminalize HIV or

use existing laws to prosecute people for transmitting the virus.

Another 33 countries are considering similar legislation.

Since 2005, seven countries in West Africa have passed HIV laws. In Benin,

simply exposing others to HIV is a crime, even if transmission doesn't

occur. And in Tanzania, intentional transmission of the virus can lead

to life imprisonment.

Many of the laws in Africa were passed after a meeting in Chad in 2004 sponsored

by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the

world's biggest funder of AIDS programs, and attended by U.N. officials.

" The

U.N. was definitely remiss to allow this to happen, " said

Osborne, a senior HIV adviser at IPPF and one of the report's authors.

De Lay said UNAIDS found out about the meeting only after it happened.

But poor countries aren't the only ones using these laws.

In

the U.S., 32 states have laws criminalizing HIV transmission. Experts

estimate that thousands of people have been charged across the country

with spreading HIV.

Since 2001, 16 people in the United Kingdom have been prosecuted for spreading

HIV.

In 2005, a woman in Canada was charged with criminal negligence and aggravated

assault for passing HIV while pregnant to her baby.

She

did not tell her doctors that she had HIV and did not receive the

medications necessary to prevent the virus from infecting her child.

She was sentenced to a six-month conditional sentence followed by three years of

probation.

In countries like Britain, Canada and the U.S., which are major donors of

efforts to fight AIDS in Africa, such cases are particularly unfortunate, many

experts say.

" It

sets a poor example in the sense that other countries may then think

this is an appropriate or desirable way to deal with HIV, " said

Elliott, executive director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.

While

there might be exceptional cases where prosecuting people who are

maliciously spreading HIV makes sense, experts said those were extreme

cases.

" The criminal law is a blunt

instrument, " Osborne said. " If you put everyone in prison with HIV,

then you think you've controlled it. But you haven't dealt with the

issues around the intimate behaviors that spread HIV. "

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On the Net:

http://www.ippf.org

http://news./s/ap/20081113/ap_on_he_me/eu_med_hiv_laws