HIV and AIDS in Africa. African policies in response to AIDS in relation to various national legal traditions
Alkas, P.H.; Shandera, W.X.
Journal of Legal Medicine 17(4): 527-546
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0194-7648 PMID: 8991332 DOI: 10.1080/01947649609511020Document Number: 258350
The African AIDS epidemic has evoked diverse legal and political responses. In this survey of African AIDS policies, data from nations responding to a survey were stratified by legal traditions (common, civil, islamic, socialist). In the realm of antidiscrimination, more countries with a civil-law heritage enacted antidiscrimination measures. A few countries with an Islamic law background discriminated regarding immigration or established mandatory screening for high-risk groups. Most African nations have laws requiring blood screening. Countries without such requirement were evenly divided by legal tradition, but were mainly in areas with low seroprevalence of infection. Nations with policies prohibiting HIV-infected persons from donating blood typically had civil-law traditions. Therefore nations with civil-law tradition were more likely to regulate aspects of life affected by AIDS. It is likely that common-law countries more often relied on existing communicable disease legislation or addressed problems ad hoc.