Malawi defends plans to outlaw HIV transmission

[ccharles000]

A Malawian official has defended in a BBC interview plans to make it a crime for a person who knows they are HIV positive to infect someone else.

Plans for the new bill were announced in March and provoked a heated debate about whether or not the criminal law should be applied to HIV transmission.

Supporters claim the proposals would help reduce new HIV infection rates.

But sex workers oppose the bill, arguing it is discriminatory and would put them in a no-win situation.

"It's not fair to knowingly infect somebody," Cyrus Jeke, spokesperson for the Ministry of Gender, Children and Community Development, told the BBC's Network Africa programme about the government plans.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8607365.stm

[sui generis]

1. well that's a step in the right direction

Now prove "knowingly" beyond a shadow of a doubt - that's a bit more problematic without medical and test and counseling records.

I would conclude that both a law like that and an effective prevention and treatment programs would serve together to reduce HIV transmission, not any one thing alone.