Role of Law in Reducing HIV infections in Uasin Gishu County

 

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Stakeholders at the Uasin Gishu County Dialogue Forum    Picture By: KELIN/Regina Mwanza

“It doesn’t matter that medicine is free if everyone will discriminate against you once they see you getting it from the Comprehensive Care Centre.” These were the words of one of the participants living with HIV at the Uasin Gishu County dialogue forum on 15 August, 2014.

KELIN in partnership with Ampath and with support from Aids Fonds, conducted a dialogue forum, which was a platform where County officials, healthcare workers, community elders, people living with HIV, members of key affected populations (male & female sex workers), law enforcement officers, and a judicial officer discussed key issues affecting People Living with HIV (PLHIV).

The key issues highlighted were:

  1. How discrimination and stigma affect access to medicine for persons living with HIV and members of key affected populations, therefore increasing the risk of new infections.
  2. Punitive laws and prohibitive policies that hinder access to HIV prevention and treatment services for key and affected populations should be amended.
  3. The need to intensify awareness trainings on HIV, human rights and the law for County Assembly Members, prisons, police and the judiciary, to enhance their appreciation of the linkage, and how it affects the HIV response in the County.
  4. The release of TB patients that have been incarcerated for allegedly skipping their treatment.

With these as the emerging issues and the National AIDS Control Council pushing for county ownership of the HIV response, addressing the legal barriers has become more important than ever as evidenced by the findings of the study conducted by Global Commission on HIV & the Law.

KELIN committed to closely work with county partners to raise awareness and appreciation of stakeholders on the linkages between HIV, the law, human rights, and how the law can be utilized to create an enabling environment for the county HIV response. The full workshop report will be available on the website in two weeks time.

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