Calls to criminalise HIV positive people who practice safe sex but don't disclose their health status will place more people in danger of contracting the virus, according to New Zealand's largest HIV positive people's support and advocacy organisation. In separate editorials in recent days both the Dominion Post and the Herald have called for the courts to punish people who use condoms but don't advise their sex partner they have HIV. They believe those people who are not informed cannot make an informed decision on whether or not to participate and also question the efficacy of condom use. Forcing people with HIV to disclose would be a retrograde step says Body Positive. "The fact is they just won't. It places the entire responsibility on the HIV positive person and those who believe they are negative will abort any sense of personal responsibility and we know today that most infections come from people who do not know they are positive," says Body Positive General Manager Bruce Kilmister. Body Positive is backing up the NZ AIDS Foundation's rebuttal of the proposals and the finding of a judge in 2005 that condom use is a reasonable and effective measure to take to protect a sex partner. "We know the most effective barrier to transmission is the use of a condom," says Kilmister. "There is some empirical evidence that shows the risk is over one in a million if a condom is used." "On a personal health basis we also know that if the person is on treatment they are less likely to be infective. In fact that risk is reduced by over 96 percent," he adds. Body Positive also takes exception to the claim that the law as it stands is "generous" to HIV-positive people. "We know this is not generous at all," says Kilmister. "It is sensible and the most effective means of ensuring that everyone has a responsibility to protect themselves by ensuring a condom is used. If positive people had to disclose their status they simply would not and again negative people would be more at risk of just assuming 'he/she never told me so I should be alright.'"
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 20th March 2012 - 10:09am