HIV victims positively unwelcome

[Guest guest]

[Editors note: The times of India journalist tried to do a good job. But, it

seems, Kounteya Sinha the ToI jounalist did not get the language right. Pleople

living with HIV are not necessarly " Victims " . They are persons living with HIV]

HIV victims positively unwelcome

Kounteya Sinha, TOI Crest, Aug 14, 2010

Harjeet is no different from the thousands of Punjab villagers who dream of a

well-paying job in the Gulf. In 1995, he applied for a work visa, forking out Rs

20,000 to an agent in Mumbai. A mandatory medical check followed and all the

doctor would tell him was that " something is wrong " with his blood test results.

He offered however to help suppress information for a " commission " of Rs 2,000.

The expenses cost Harjeet a loan but he managed to fly to Saudi Arabia. On

arrival, he was subjected to another medical test. To his shock, he was soon

after whisked away to an isolated cell and jailed there for a day. The next day

he was taken to a court which ordered his deportation. Harjeet, it seems, had

tested HIV-positive .

Back in India, Harjeet found that his wife had walked out of the family home

with their two children. He was packed off to a care centre and left alone to

deal with his situation. Severely depressed, Harjeet began getting multiple

seizures that left him partially paralysed . He eventually recovered with a lot

of support from the care centre. Today, Harjeet works with people who are

HIV-positive and his life story has been documented by the International Aids

Society (IAS).

Harjeet is not alone. Thousands of people across the world have been deported or

denied entry into countries because they are HIV-positive . This is despite the

fact that stigmatising HIV-positive individuals is contrary to effective public

health programming.

Official data shows that 66 countries, territories and areas deny entry, stay or

residence to HIV-positive individuals: of these, 26 deport migrants who test

positive, seven refuse permission to stay beyond a certain time bar and six deny

entry even for very short-term stay.

" It is incomprehensible that HIV-related entry and residency restrictions still

exist, " says Moody, International Coordinator and CEO, Global Network of

People Living with HIV. " These restrictions are in blatant violation of human

rights, they stimulate stigma and discrimination and actually hurt the response

to the HIV epidemic. "

India's health secretary, K Sujatha Rao, believes that irrational discriminatory

laws should be lifted. " In India, we don't have any laws against residence or

visit by HIV patient, " she points out.

Many of these restrictions, says the IAS, were imposed in the early days of the

epidemic, when there was a great deal of ignorance, fear and prejudice

surrounding the subject. At that time, many governments saw these laws as an

attempt to " protect the public health " and avoid the potential costs of care.

The situation has, however, changed dramatically. There is a lot of information

available about the disease and its prevention and the antiretroviral treatment

can extend the life span of those who are HIV positive. Dr Helene Gayle, chief

advisor to US president Barack Obama on HIV/AIDS, points out that these

restrictive laws are no longer justified by concerns about public health.

" Over 60 countries around the world have a variety of HIV-specific laws that

restrict the entry, stay or residence of people living with HIV including Iraq,

Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Qatar, Oman, Russia, Colombia , South Korea, Yemen and

Armenia , " says Dr Gayle. According to IASexecutive director Craig McClure,

scientific evidence shows that travel restrictions against those who are

HIV-infected make for ineffective prevention tools. " These laws are not

consistent with current scientific knowledge, best practices in public health

and humanitarian principles. They sustain a culture of exclusion, rights

violations and marginalisation that impedes an effective response to the

epidemic, " says McClure.

A WHO statement points out that such entry restrictions actually pressurise

people into concealing their HIV infection from immigration authorities. They

simply do not carry their HIV medicines on international trips. This could lead

to drug-resistant HIV strains that are transmissible to other people.

" Furthermore, because drug resistance allows HIV to replicate in the body more

freely, people with higher viral loads are also more infectious, " says the

statement.

In the Asia and the Pacific region, countries have different kinds of

restrictive laws for the HIV-affected . Singapore has an outright ban on all

HIV-positive non-nationals for entry and immigration.

Brunei targets HIV-positive foreigners for deportation. Australia requires HIV

testing for permanent visa applicants over the age of 15. South Korea announced

changes to its entry and immigration policy on January 1, 2010, but

clarifications on its amended laws are still unclear.

Some countries ask applicants to indicate their HIV status, some seek

confirmation of HIV-negative test results and others insist on testing as a part

of a mandatory medical exam for those seeking work permits.

Things are however changing. The US, China and Namibia recently lifted their

decades old travel laws against HIV-positive people. Hopefully, others will

follow suit,and soon.

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