Risks, Rights & Health – Supplement
This Supplement highlights developments since 2012 in science, technology, law, geopolitics, and funding that affect people living with or at risk from HIV and its coinfections. The recommendations add to and amplify those of the Commission’s 2012 report Risks, Rights & Health, which remain as relevant as they were six years ago.
Zaburoni v The Queen
Clarifies that recklessness regarding HIV transmission risk is not the same as intention to transmit HIV. This ruling means that if people are convicted of having sex without disclosing their HIV status, they will be convicted of lesser charges with lower penalty.
Case Analysis: Section 24 of the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act Kenya: Reviewing AIDS Law Project v Attorney General and Another (2015)
Overview of the Kenya High Court’s ground-breaking decision that some terms in the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act were too broadly defined and that Act contravened Kenya’s constitution.
“One shouldn’t convict people for hypothetical risks”: developments in criminal law following increased knowledge and awareness of the additional prevention benefit of antiretroviral therapy
Overview of various jurisdictions shows that an increased understanding of the impact of viral load on infectiousness has resulted in a number of jurisdictions revising or revisiting their criminal laws or prosecutorial policies relating to HIV non-disclosure, exposure and/or transmission.
Prevalence and public health implications of state laws that criminalize potential HIV exposure in the United States
Describes the prevalence and characteristics of laws criminalizing HIV exposure across the U.S., examining the implications of these laws for public health practice. Finds that nearly two-thirds of states have legislation criminalizing potential HIV exposure, including behaviours that pose low or negligible risk. States are encouraged to re-examine HIV-specific laws (referencing current science) and consider whether current laws are the best vehicle to achieve their intended purposes.
Discussing the Limits of Confidentiality: The Impact of Criminalizing HIV Nondisclosure on Public Health Nurses’ Counselling
Found HIV criminalisation negatively impacts nursing practice as public health nurses endeavour to control information about the limits of confidentiality at the outset of HIV post-test counselling. Individual practice varies as nurses pragmatically balance ethical and professional concerns. Some intentionally withhold information about the risk of subpoena, while others talk to clients about confidentiality in ways that focus on the risk of harm associated with criminalisation.