Zambian Officers to Receive Compensation for Unlawful HIV Testing
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...By Shamsydeen Badmus
Published: June 12, 2010
Zambian Officers to Receive Compensation for Unlawful HIV Testing
Tayo Adelaja & Shamsydeen Badmus
A court in Livingstone has awarded 2,000 US dollars in damages for mental and emotional anguish to each of two ex-officers in Zambia’s air force who say they were tested and treated for HIV without their knowledge. Thursday’s ruling has been hailed as a landmark case that will reignite debate about mandatory testing for HIV. Stanley Kingaipe and Charles Chookole were tested in 2001 in what they believed were routine check-ups. The men were then given drugs which they discovered to be antiretrovirals for HIV only after volunteering for HIV testing much later. Mandatory HIV screening is illegal in Zambia’s military. Kingaipe and Chookole claim they were discharged from the air force for being HIV positive, which the government denies. The court’s decision upheld the men’s right to privacy but did not reinstate them.
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