Criminalising HIV transmission in Australia. Civil society must act.

[Guest guest]

Criminalising HIV transmission in Australia. Civil society must act.

Please read a commentary from Joe on the On Line Opinion,

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=10501

Australia's premier e-journal for social and political debate, on Criminalising

HIV transmission in Australia and call to the civil society to act.

According to Australian police, a Zimbabwe-born Australian citizen, a circus

acrobat, has knowingly spread HIV by having unprotected sex with a series of

women. Mr Godfrey Zaburoni, 31, is due to face a court of law soon. Based on

police allegations, public health authorities have issued a national warning to

the women to contact police and medical authorities for testing. (And, they are

proposing to form a taskforce to trace down these women as well.)

It appears that the case of the health authority's knee jerk reaction to

criminalise and demonise HIV infection is laced with xenophobia which will

further fuel stigma, discrimination and a subsequent increase in HIV

vulnerability, particularly among the immigrant populations.

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=10501