Anti-gay laws spread HIV: UN
2010-07-22 08:06
Special Report
The availability of the antiretroviral (ARV) tenofovir has improved in Gauteng over the past weeks, the provincial health department says following a report that some provinces were running low on ARVs.
Vienna - Laws criminalising gay
sex in many countries in the Asia-Pacific region are pushing infection rates of
HIV and Aids to "alarming" levels, the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) said on Wednesday.
"Some 19 of 48 countries in
the Asia Pacific region continue to criminalise male-to-male sex," the UNDP
said at the World Aids Conference being held in Vienna this week.
"These laws often taken on
the force of vigilantism, frequently leading to abuse and human rights
violations. Correspondingly, HIV prevalence has reached alarming levels among
men who have sex with men and transgender populations in many countries of the
region," it said.
A new report, commissioned by the
UNDP and the Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM), found that
by criminalising gay men and transsexuals, people were being denied access to
treatment and health services.
"Repressive legal
environments institutionalise discrimination, limit funding and in effect
obstruct the participation of men who have sex with men and transgender people
in protecting themselves and their families, friends and communities from
HIV," said Jeff O'Malley, director of the UNDP's HIV Practice.
He also called for the abolition
of "punitive laws and discriminatory practices".
APCOM head Shivananda Khan said
unnecessary infection could be prevented by ensuring that "all citizens of
a country, irrespective of their sexual orientation or gender identity, can
access health services".
The report's author, John Goodwin,
said "comprehensive and rights-based HIV responses among men who have sex
with men and transgender people can occur only when a conducive and enabling
legal environment is created".
- SAPA