HIV/AIDS- Ethical/Legal Issues

摘要

HIV testing has brought out a number of legal & ethical issues to the forefront as HIV/AIDS is more of a social problem rather than a medical problem. There have been allegations of human rights violations across the globe and HIV infected persons have been discriminated against.HIV/AIDS has highlighted the inequalities, wide spread stigma, discrimination and denial of fundamental human rights. On the other hand, it is the denial of human rights that makes certain sub populations, more vulnerable to HIV than others like commercial sex workers (CSW), men having sex with men (MSM) and Intravenous drug users (IVDUs). Another important point to understand is that lab diagnosis is the only method determining the HIV infection status of an individual during the long asymptomatic period.HIV/AIDS affects life long and outcome is invariably fatal. There is no complete cure and no vaccine is available so far. Three main legal-ethical issues involved in a public health strategy to combat HIV, which arise in clinical and voluntary counseling and testing(VCT) settings, are:Consent for HIV testing, Confidentiality of HIV status and Discrimination on the basis of HIV in health care, employment & other services. Consent (1)