Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care chairperson Ruth Labode has called for the repeal of the deliberate transmission of HIV law saying that there is no equipment which can tell who gave HIV to the other and at what time.
Speaking after the second hearing of the Public Health Bill in Parliament yesterday, Labode said the law makes it difficult for one to disclose their status to their partner. Said Labode:
We all know very well that in Zimbabwe and the world-over, we do not have diagnostic equipment which can tell us who gave HIV to the other and at what time. There is an assumption that whoever has manifested the disease first is the one who transmitted the virus. It can be anybody and it could be the other way round. If you are a woman and suddenly you find yourself positive, you will not tell your partner because of this law yet if the law was not there you would tell your partner and go and access ARVs to live happily ever after.
More: Chronicle
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