The Hindu Business Line : Call to protect the rights of HIV patients

THE Union Government should enact and enforce a national legislation prohibiting discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS and their families in health facilities, schools, places of employment and other institutions, according to a report released by the New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch.

The report says that such legislation should specify that children must not be barred from school because they are HIV-positive.

The report, `Future Forsaken: Abuses against children affected by HIV/ AIDS in India' is based on fieldwork carried out in several Indian States in November-December last year.

It emphasises that efforts be made to ensure that children living with HIV/ AIDS received all available medical care, including anti-retroviral treatment.

The report urges the authorities to plan for the protection and care of such children whose parents are unable to take care of them. Efforts should focus on alternatives to institutionalisation, the report adds.

The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) should provide greater leadership and technical assistance to the States to prevent and address discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS, the report says.

All Government departments must actively participate in combating discrimination at the workplace, instead of relying on NACO and similar bodies at the State-level.

NACO should pay special attention to the education and healthcare requirements of children affected by HIV/AIDS, the report says.

It also says that NACO must ensure that the third phase of the National AIDS Prevention and Control Policy includes provisions regarding health, education and care of children affected by HIV/AIDS.

The report stresses the need to provide children, both in and out of school, comprehensive, accurate and `age-appropriate' information on HIV/AIDS.

The Government too must address issues such as school fees and related expenses that keep children, especially girls, out of school, making them more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.