Chrispine Sibande, is a lawyer and Deputy Director for Legal Services of the Malawi Human Rights Commission.

Milena Stevanovic from Skopje, Macedonia, was a member of a medical team that was on duty in November 2008 when the police issued a court warrant to test arrested street commercial sex workers for STIs.

"In November 2008, the Ministry of Interior began a campaign to eradicate the so-called ‘socio-pathological occurrence of male and female individuals giving sexual services for money.’

Countries around the world have used the law in different ways to criminalize HIV. Some create new HIV specific laws, whilst others use existing legislation.

This page provides a number of key examples from around the world. For more details on how different countries use the law, go to: Question 5.

HIV specific laws

Existing laws:  

Alice Mwangi, beauty therapist from Yamumbi, Kenya.

In August 2006 Alice Mwangi filed a case. She had gone for a routine appointment at an antenatal clinic when she was tested for HIV without her consent. The test was followed by the unauthorized disclosure of her positive HIV status to her family members. 

“I suffered stigma and discrimination both from my relatives and at my place of work. I was afraid of disclosing my status to my employer and their reaction to the news. I thought it may cost me my job and this would make my life more miserable. 

Sayed El Zemari, International Health Expert and former practising Medical Doctor from Egypt.

“In Egypt the law does not have the same position as it does for people in the West. The law on the ground in the Middle East and Africa is not respected as it should be. Many times you change the law, but nothing changes on the ground. 

So you say: ‘don’t smoke in enclosed places’ – yes it’s a very good law! But no one respects it, no one enforces it and people don’t believe they should.

Kaniz Fathema Peer counsellor Mukta Akash Bangladesh, Khulna, Bangladesh.