Global Policy Forum

The Government yesterday took a bold step in the fight against HIV/Aids by approving a Bill that, will among other things, criminalise discrimination against Aids sufferers. The Bill proposes to make it a criminal offence for an employer to sack a person or deny them a job because of their HIV status.

A Cabinet meeting chaired by President Mwai Kibaki approved publication of the HIV/Aids Prevention and Control Bill, 2003. The Bill outlines various measures in the fight against the spread of HIV/Aids. Sources said Attorney General Amos Wako took the Cabinet through the various clauses contained in the Bill and explained what each of meant as well as their legal implications. At the end of it, the entire Cabinet endorsed the Bill's publication.

It is expected that the Bill will address other issues that have led to the stigmatisation of Aids sufferers by society. It will also address the issue where doctors have been compelled to disclose the HIV status of employees to their employers without informing them. It is expected that the HIV tests that have become mandatory for employment will be dealt with.

The Bill is also expected to address the issue of the rights of an Aids sufferer to access medicines, privacy and quality health care. These include the ways of protecting people with HIV/Aids and health workers. Health workers are considered to be at risk of contracting the disease due to unsafe medical practices, which expose them needlessly. During the ongoing 13th International Conference on Aids and Sexuality in Africa, medical practitioners and administrators have expressed concern that the majority of health care workers in the continent are frequently exposed to needle pricks when handling HIV/Aids sufferers or even the disposal of body fluids which contain the virus.

The Bill is also expected to regulate the work of NGOs and individuals conducting HIV/Aids programmes. The Bill now awaits publication by the Attorney General before it is tabled for debate in parliament.

Kenya is one of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa with the highest HIV infection rates in the world. Currently, the infection rate stands at 10.2 percent after declining from a high of 14 percent. More than 2.2 million Kenyans are HIV positive. About 220,000 are in need of anti-retrovirals, however only 7,000 can afford them. Already Kenya has launched a Sh150-million national programme which will provide free anti-retrovirals to about 6,000 Aids patients.

The cost of the drugs have fallen from over sh20,000 a month a year ago to about sh3,000 today. However the burden of caring for orphans is immense as more than 890,000 children have lost their mothers or both parents while they were under the age of 15. According to US census Burea/Unaids/Unicef estimates the number of Kenyans orphans due to Aids will increase to 1.5 million by 2010.

According to UNAids, the umbrella body co-ordinating the Aids campaign, the disease has a direct impact on at least 60 million Africans to date including nearly 30 million living with HIV. More than 15 million people have died from the disease and 11 million children have lost at least one parent in the epidemic. Currently, four African countries have HIV prevalence rates higher than 30 percent, 12 countries have at least 10 percent prevalence. On average, Sub-Saharan Africa has a 6.8 percent HIV prevalence. In the continent, Kenya is one of the worst hit countries with one person dying every minute.

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