SANDF Aids policy 'in line'

2003-10-15 22:30

Erika Gibson

Pretoria - No army in the world deploys HIV positive soldiers as this could lead to a secondary epidemic in a foreign country, a defence expert said on Wednesday.

Charles Heyman, a senior military expert at Jane's Defence in London, said that apart from an outbreak, soldiers also served in operations where injuries and blood were commonplace, which could lead to the infection of other soldiers.

He said the South African National Defence Force's recruitment policy was on a par with international standards.

In many instances it was even more flexible, as the HIV/Aids problem in Africa was a lot worse than in Europe and the US, he said.

The SANDF took a "softer approach", he said. For instance, the SANDF treated infected troops rather than discharging them.

Heyman said the British and American defence policy was immediate discharge for an infected soldier.

The SANDF's policy to test potential recruits for all manner of fatal illnesses also conformed to international standards, he said.

According to Heyman, an army cannot be compared to a commercial business when it comes to non-discriminatory employment. This, he said, was because the "work" demanded from a soldier was a lot more physical than that demanded by a civilian job.

Should an entire force be HIV positive and deployed in a foreign country, there was always the risk that the locals could be infected. These people could then bring civil suits against the United Nations or the African Union.

This response comes in the wake of an outcry by HIV/Aids organisations after Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said the army could not afford to recruit HIV positive soldiers.

- Beeld