Vol 22, 2013 Annals of Health Law 388
DUTY TO WARN OF THE RISK OF HIV/AIDS
of the most ‘legislated’ regions in the world (if not the most legislated)
when it comes to HIV.”8 This is equally true for the southern African
region where member states of the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) are in various stages of adapting and adopting model
HIV/AIDS laws, initiated by the Southern African Development
Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) and approved at its 24th
Plenary Assembly Session in Arusha, Tanzania, 2008.9 HIV/AIDS specific
legislation has been promulgated in African countries of Benin,10 Guinea,11
Mali,12 Guinea-Bissau,13 Niger,14 Togo,15 Sierra Leone,16 Kenya,17 and
Mauritius.18 Other African countries in the process of developing similar
legislation include Cameroon, Chad, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Cabo Verde,
Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Madagascar, Tanzania
and Uganda.19 HIV/AIDS specific legislation in the West and Central
African regions is based on a model HIV/AIDS law developed by the
Action for West African Region – HIV/AIDS (AWARE-HIV/AIDS) and
approved in a regional workshop held in N’djamena, Chad in 2004.20
While the national laws above provide for various issues and activities
relating to HIV/AIDS, the focus of this article is on the provisions relating
to the duty to warn of the risk of HIV/AIDS infection.
The SADC PF model law, for instance, does not embody a mandatory
disclosure requirement. Rather, section 15(4) permits the notification of a
8. Richard Pearshouse, Legislation Contagion: the Spread of Problematic New HIV
Laws in Western Africa, 12 HIV/AIDS POL’Y & L. REV. 5, 5 (2007).
9. MODEL LAW ON HIV IN S. AFRICA (S. Afr. Dev. Cmty. Parliamentary Forum 2008).
10. The Law on Prevention, Care and Control of HIV/AIDS, 2006, No. 2005-31
(Benin).
11. Law on Prevention, Care and Control of HIV/AIDS, No. 2005-25 (Guinea).
12. Law Establishing Rules Relating to the Prevention, Care and Control of HIV/AIDS,
2006, No. 06-28 (Mali).
13. Framework Law Relating to the Prevention, Treatment and Control of HIV/AIDS
(Guinea-Bissau).
14. Law Relating to the Prevention, Care and Control of Human Immunodeficiency
Virus (HIV), 2007, No. 2007-08 (Niger).
15. Law on the Protection of People with respect to HIV/AIDS, No. 2005-012 (Togo).
16. The Prevention and Control of HIV and AIDS Act, 2007 (Act No. 8/2007) (Sierra
Leone) [hereinafter Sierra Leone].
17. HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act (2006) (Kenya) [hereinafter Kenya].
18. HIV and AIDS Act 2006 (Act No. 31/2006) (Mauritius) [hereinafter Mauritius].
19. Edwin J. Bernard, Criminal HIV Transmission and Exposure Laws Spreading
around the Word ‘Like a Virus,’ AIDSMAP NEWS (August 7, 2008), http://www.aidsmap.com/
en/news/ B250DD99-C534-4C29-A078-EDF602EFB615.AS.; see also Pearshouse, supra
note 8, at 5.
20. FAMILY HEALTH INTERNATIONAL (Sep 2004), AWARE Holds Regional Workshop on
a Model Law on STI/HIV/AIDS available at http://www.FHI.org/en/CountryProfiles/West
Africa/ res_modellaw.htm; see also Pearshouse, supra note 8, at 5.
