Legal Aspects of HIV/AIDS: A Guide for Policy and Law Reform

Abstract

The World Bank's Global HIV/AIDS Program of Action envisages strong World Bank support for the global response to HIV in several areas, including strengthening national strategies, accelerating implementation, and generating and sharing knowledge. This guide to the legal aspects of the pandemic ("the Guide") will help enhance the institution's contribution. The Guide is not intended only for World Bank staff. Indeed, those who can make the best use of the information collected in this work are national AIDS councils, government ministers, and civil servants responsible for guiding and implementing their country's response to the epidemic. Dealing successfully with HIV/AIDS cuts across almost all areas of government responsibility, and as the breadth of the 65 topics included in the Guide shows, there are many ways in which laws and regulations can either underpin or undermine good public health programs and responsible personal behaviors. The Guide indicates that statutes relating to many areas of human endeavor-from intimate private conduct to international travel-can contribute to stigma, discrimination, and exclusion or, contrariwise, can avoid and help remedy these inequities. Thus, in order to create a supportive legal framework it is important that governments identify and address effectively any gaps or other problematic aspects of their legislation and regulatory systems. Governments are not alone in this task. Many organizations stand ready to assist and, indeed, are already doing so. A prepublication copy of the Guide was circulated to all relevant organizations of the United Nations system as well as to nongovernmental organizations and individual reviewers. Many useful suggestions for improvement have been taken into account and are gratefully acknowledged. We hope that this Guide will prove of significant, practical use to governments and their many partners in the response to HIV.

Implementing Public Health Regulations in Developing Countries: Lessons from the OECD Countries

“…If a unit of blood is unsafe, it cannot be distributed and the donor must be notified. 52 Another method of self-regulation is for industry to create minimum standards in product design that companies must comply with in order to receive accreditation. Accreditation is similar to licensing, but instead of the government monitoring and issuing licenses, a private organization (such as an industry association) issues credentials to companies that meet a specified set of design or safety standards.…”

Intervenções para reduzir o estigma da AIDS no Brasil: uma revisão crítica

“…Tal compromisso se expressa na proposição de estratégias para identifi cação de estigma ou mensuração de discriminação, assim como na formulação de diretrizes de desenho, avaliação e monitoramento de intervenções voltadas a populações mais vulneráveis (Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS [UNAIDS], 2000[UNAIDS], , 2008. Adicio-nalmente, agências internacionais tem analisado os aspectos legais relacionados ao HIV/Aids que podem informar políticas de Estado (Gable, Gamharter, Gostin, Hodge, & Puymbroeck, 2007), bem como disseminação de boas práticas em diversos níveis de resposta ao estigma e à discriminação (UNAIDS, 2005).…”

Neoliberal Geographies and the Justiciability of Economic and Social Rights

“…National laws and community awareness initiatives are increasingly addressing female genital mutilation and other cultural practices that can increase women's risk and vulnerability. Legislation passed in Zimbabwe in 2007 prohibits forced marriages or servitude, and in 2005 the Zambian Government amended the penal code to prohibit "widow cleansing", a practice whereby women whose husbands have died submit to sex with a village leader in order to be re-accepted into the community (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 2005;Gable, 2007).…”

“…Namibia's 2008 report to UNAIDS indicates that, following advocacy by the AIDS Law Unit, the Namibian parliament included HIV as a prohibited basis for discrimination in the country's Labour Bill passed in 2007. Laws in the Bahamas, Malawi, South Africa, and Zimbabwe prohibit mandatory HIV testing as a condition of private employment (Gable et al, 2007). Cambodia, Guyana, and other countries have laws specifying the right of people living with HIV to equal access to highquality health care (Gable et al, 2007).…”

“…Laws in the Bahamas, Malawi, South Africa, and Zimbabwe prohibit mandatory HIV testing as a condition of private employment (Gable et al, 2007). Cambodia, Guyana, and other countries have laws specifying the right of people living with HIV to equal access to highquality health care (Gable et al, 2007). However, the degree to which these laws are enforced or…”