Protection Against Discrimination Based on HIV Status or Health Status

• Pages: 45-47

Contenidos

• The Issue.
• Legal and Policy Considerations.
• Practice Examples.
• References.

Page 45

The Issue

Discrimination against persons living with HIV (PLHIV), as defined by the UNAIDS Protocol for the Identification of Discrimination against People Living with HIV, refers to "[a]ny measure entailing an arbitrary distinction among persons depending on their confirmed or suspected HIV serostatus or state of health." Discrimination against PLHIV may lead to intolerance and exacerbate the stigma PLHIV face regularly. Discrimination based on an infectious disease is just as inequitable as discrimination based on race, gender, or disability. HIV-positive persons do not present a health threat, and discrimination based on HIV or health status may compound the marginalization of groups already faced with stigma and societal opprobrium-groups like gay men, injecting drug users, and sex workers. Discrimination also undermines public health efforts to identify persons HIV-positive for the purposes of prevention of transmission, and provision of care and treatment. If individuals fear the personal, social, and economic consequences of being diagnosed with HIV or AIDS, they may forego testing, fail to discuss their health and risk behaviors with counselors, health care professionals, and their partners, and refrain from entering the health care system for treatment. Finally, by placing the focus of HIV infection on specific groups in the community, discrimination may breed complacency in other groups who wrongly assume that they are not at risk of HIV infection. Alleviating discrimination is consistent with efforts to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights and to prevent HIV and AIDS through public health initiatives.

Legal and Policy Considerations

Laws and policies that protect against discrimination based upon HIV status or health status more generally have been widely enacted. According to the UNAIDS 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, 61% of countries report having laws or regulations that protect PLHIV from discrimination. These laws are embodied in antidiscrimination provisions found in international conventions and agreements, national constitutions and laws, and multiple court decisions affirming that arbitrary discrimination is wrong and damaging to society. Some laws and policies include "health status" or "disability" in the list of categories subject to protection from discrimination. Implementing regulations, policy...