Nelson Zuma, a South African living in Johannesburg has spent three months behind bars for an offence that still baffles many people. His offence: he tested positive to human immunodeficiency virus, HIV, and was arrested immediately the result became public knowledge. Zuma is just one of the millions of people living with HIV/AIDS, PLWHA, in different countries of the world that are languishing in jail because of their health status. Be it South Africa, United States, Indonesia or China, many government have resorted to criminalisation of PLWHA as a way of curtailing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in their countries. This issue was one of the focal [p-oints during this year’s International AIDS Conference held earlier in the month in Mexico.
Edwin Cameron, one of the delegates that represented South Africa at the conference, disclosed that the new law in the country that criminalises transmission of, or exposure to HIV, has created a new challenge in the fight to deal rationally and effectively with HIV in that country. He said that criminalisation of HIV is costing lives and increasing sufferings of PLWHA. Cameron highlighted the irrational nature of these laws and their ineffectiveness in achieving their purported goal of preventing the spread of HIV.
”This law rather radically increased HIV stigma and created barriers to testing and treatment. Prosecutions often single out already vulnerable groups such as sex workers, men who have sex with men and, in European countries, black males,” he said. Women are especially victimised by these laws, which exposes them to assault, ostracism and further stigma.