PREFACE
AIDS is being regarded as one of the most ravaging illness of all times. The fact that as at date there is no known cure, makes the virus more frightening than ever. The illness has been around for over 30 years, but it is a wonder that some people (youth in particular) are just hearing about it. Its origin is no longer of any consequence whether it is a punishment for our immorality or what ever it is, ceases to be of relevance as if now has as victims ,the most innocent i.e. babies and youths.
The AIDS crisis is now the crisis of the developing countries and the World, especially Africa. The clinical syndrome is the greatest enemy to this fatal and most devastating illness, as infected persons continue to spread the infection.
Behavioral change, Acceptance by those infected and their co-operation is the only way toward to fight the spread of this virus.

PREAMBLE
HIV/AIDS. Is it an affliction or a curse? What is this virus that is wrecking havoc in our society and baffling Scientific minds?
We have been told by scientists that HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus and AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, which is the last stage of the disease.
If you are HIV positive, you are infected with the virus and your body reacts by producing HIV antibodies. If you have access to an HIV blood test, it will show these anti bodies.
However once and individual is infected with HIV, it takes a certain amount of time before the organism develops antibodies, therefore there is a certain “Window period” when an infected person will test negative. This window period last for often between four weeks and Six Months, in exceptional cases even longer. During this period all HIV infected persons are infectious.
Medical Science has shown that, a few weeks after infection; a minority of infected persons experience some acute Symptoms, often unnoticed.
There after, all HIV infected persons experience a long period without typical serious diseases the so-called “asymptomatic” period. This period can last several years.
During this asymptomatic period, infected persons are able to transmit the virus to others. After this period, the first symptoms of the disruption for immune defense appear in the form of a certain illnesses which have been referred to as AIDS related complex. The final stage of the disease “full blown” AIDS, follows when an HIV infected person develops one or more of the “opportunistic” infections and or cancers. The diseases are called opportunistic because they take advantage of the opportunity presented by the weakened immune system. The progressive weakening of the organism results finally in the death of the patient. No cure of (and no vaccination against) HIV infections or AIDS has yet been discovered.
Drugs like Efavirenz (EFV), Delavirdine (DLV), Nevirapine (NVP), AZT/3TC (Combivir), AZT/3TC/ABC (Trizivir), Zidovudine (AZT) and Didanosine (DDI) when used in combination or with other medication can treat or improve the medical condition and quality of life of the infected person.
These drugs work by lowering the amount of HIV in the blood (viral load) and increase the number of CD4 lymphocyte cells, a type of immune cell in the blood. Scientists have also told us that HIV can be transmitted through
 Having unprotected sex with someone who is HIV positive. About 80 to 90 per cent of the infections are thought to be sexually transmitted.
 Sharing syringes and injecting equipment which has not been properly sterilized.
 Having contaminated medical equipment which have not been properly sterilized or used on people.
 Being given blood transmissions which are infected with HIV.
 Donor insemination with HIV infected semen.
 Vertical transmission of HIV from mother to baby during pregnancy, child birth or breast feeding. HIV/AIDS is on a rampage in must developing countries and Cameroon in particular. It has killed many and it is killing the youthful and resourceful generation of this world.
Africa is now an endemic zone which one can liken to a war zone. No one is free – you are either a victim of the virus or a victim of loss of relative, neighbors, friend or an acquaintance claimed by the virus. We find victims which have been laid out of work for health reasons or high medical bills. No one pronounces the dreaded name of the virus as the real cause of the layoff. It is only whispered. Fear has gripped the hearts of men and anger has consumed some of those who have been declared HIV positive. They have joined forces with the monster virus to infect as many unsuspecting innocent people before they die. The prevalence rate (7.2) of HIV/AIDS in Cameroon has spurred one to write on HIV/AIDS, human rights development etc. so as to sensitize the youths of Cameroon and beyond and bring to the light issues that victims of the virus, medical doctors, and institutions (both public and private) may be faced with. Since HIV/AIDS is a new disease, the Cameroon laws do not reflect the current medical knowledge or some of the socio-legal problems that have developed as a result of HIV/AIDS, etc. Since we are talking of human rights and the law in relation to HIV/AIDS victims, it is necessary to know what human rights and the law is
Human Rights may be define as rules that are equal and inalienable and they are ensure dignity if the human race. These rules are the foundation of freedom; justice and peace in the world they ensure human beings enjoy freedom of speech and belief, and freedom of fear and wants.
Art 25 (1) of the universal declaration of Human Rights “stipulates that every one has the rights to a Standard of Living adequate for health and well being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care, and necessary social services and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood and old age, or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. With regards to the above it is essential that human Rights be protected by the rule of law, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression.

PROTECTION OF HIV/AIDS PATIENTS AGAINST DISCRIMINATION
Discrimination against those living with HIV/AIDS is common place in our society. It is one of the most significant human rights abuses in the area of HIV/AIDS. It impedes the full participation and integration of people living with HIV/Aids in the community.
Discrimination can either be direct or indirect. Direct discrimination occurs where a person treats another less favourably than a third person would have been treated in comparable circumstances.
Indirect discrimination on the other hand occurs where unreasonable conditions or requirement, such as mandatory HIV testing, are applied with a substantially higher proportion of person of a different status, must be able to comply with than persons of the same status as the person claiming to have been discriminated against.
Areas of discrimination include marriage, employment, education, medical treatment, accommodation, immigration/emigration and several others.
It should be noted that HIV is not casually transmitted. An example of casual transmission is droplet infection, which occurs with sneezing, coughing or sharing utensils.
Discrimination should therefore be prohibited against persons with actual perceived or suspected HIV status, and the most effective legal remedy is the enactment of general discrimination legislation which prohibits unfair irrelevant distinction beings made on the ground of HIV/AIDS.
It should be noted that in undertaking to end discrimination on such grounds, states are obliged to protect individuals from discrimination not only bye public authorities, but also the private sector and private individuals in public activities.
Reducing prejudice against PLWHA is important and practical as it removes barriers to early diagnosis and treatment. Discriminatory attitudes can therefore be changed by enacting anti-discriminatory and protective laws in parliament, through education, training and the media and ensuring effective administrative procedure for lodging of complaints against such attitudes.
In Cameroon discrimination and stigmatization against people living with HIV/AIDS is very common. The government through its health personnel, NGOs and some private bodies has through lectures and media programmes tried to educate and sensitize the public on the possible ways of contracting the disease. This is in a bit to stop the spreading of the disease and discourage discriminatory attitudes towards HIV/AIDS patients but discrimination still exists and there is still much to be done to eliminate or eradicate it completely.
a) Changing discriminatory attitudes through parliaments: the most effective legal remedy is the enactment of general anti discriminatory legislation which prohibits unfair and irrelevant distinction being made on specified grounds against the PLWHA. Workshops have been held in some countries to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS issue and sensitize politicians to Human Right issues.
These workshops have been successful in creating a climate of non Discrimination and openness in parliament. It is at such workshops that participants living with family members or friends which are HIV infected can publicly acknowledge their relationship with these infected persons. These can change the discriminatory attitudes of other participants and thus pave the way for easy passage through parliaments of anti discriminatory laws. In some countries parliament have created a commission for non discrimination against HIV infected persons whilst other parliamentary bodies have work with other AIDS organization to fight these discrimination. The legislature, in a bid to fight discrimination against PLWHA could enable “Affirmative action” For example a community group may give preference to employment to HIV positive people because they are members of a protected class which has been subjected to general discrimination.
Evidently, Standards of providing discrimination should be addressed by the legislation or example, the legislature could make HIV/ AIDS disability only one of several reasons for doing a discriminatory act; this alone should be sufficient to ground conviction in a case instituted against an individuals, corporation, or body for discriminating against those living with HIV/AIDS.
The legislature could also enact laws, which permit a casual connection rather than proof of conduct between the discriminatory conduct and HIV/AIDS / disability to be a requirement to found a cure.
Parliament could also ensure the creation of effective administrative procedures for lodging complaints and ensure the existence of independent informed and quick avenues for redress such as Human Rights commission which have special procedures for fast tracking cases where the complainants is terminally ill .A few of these complaints properly handled will discourage discrimination. Remedies recognize by the parliament should exist for systemic discrimination by companies especially employers rather than simple individuals case, which have limited application.
Employment, being one main area where discriminatory attitudes are common place against those living with HIV/AIDS, mandatory equipment which states that the person employed if he is able to perform the inherent requirements of the job.
b) Changing Discriminatory attitude through the Judiciary: In some countries, the judiciary has been targeted as an instrument in changing discriminatory attitudes associated with HIV/AIDS. Workshops have been organized to sensitize Judges and create awareness of HIV/AIDS issues that may emerge in the courts e.g. action instituted by PLWHA or on their behalf against individuals or co-operation for discriminatory attitudes towards them.
c) Changing discriminatory attitudes by the states: the state can also change discriminatory attitudes against people living with HIV/AIDS through education, training, and the media. The state, using a broad range of media such as films, television, radio, etc could together with appropriate entities such as media groups, NGO, device and distributed programming to promote and uphold the respect for the right and dignity of people with HIV/AIDS and members of the vulnerable group such Programmes should aim at dispelling myths and assumptions, about living with HIV/AIDS by depicting them as friends, relatives, colleagues, neighbors and partners. Such courage should also reinforce the reassurance concerning the modes of transmission of the virus and the safety of everyday social contact.
The negative effects of attitudes of discrimination and stigmatization associated with HIV/AIDS cannot be over emphasized. People living with the HIV virus are able to live reasonably long and productive lives, particularly with recent advance in antiretroviral treatment.
Attempt to prematurely exclude people living with the virus from the workforce are unfair and a breach of human rights. They are also potentially uneconomical if they can arbitrarily exclude the most qualified person from a position.
These discriminating attitudes must be discouraged and changed. Those living with the virus need to be and feel protected from stigmatization and discrimination by their communities. For these protected measures to be implemented and the desired impact felt, it need the concerted efforts not only of the state alone, or parliament, but everybody in both the private and the public sector to promote the wide and ongoing distribution of creative education, training and media programs explicitly design to change attitudes of discrimination and stigmatization against HIV/AIDS to understanding and acceptance.
The shield of confidentiality
Confidentiality is drawn from the broad base universally accepted principle of a person is right to privacy. A right which is judicially approved as a shield from the unwarranted appropriation of a one’s personality, the publicizing of ones private affairs with which the public has no legitimate concern. This is an independent legal right of the individual and its violation constitutes a tort. Dean Prosser, in his work of on tort, distinguished four categories of torts embraced within the rights of privacy, confidentiality being one of such. A right which is predicted upon the constitutional guarantee of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness Drawing inspiration from the universal declaration of human rights, which uphold the inalienable and sacred rights of the person, it can be said that when the law guarantees to one the right to enjoy his life, a gift to him something more than just the right to breathe. The liberty which he drives from natural law and recognize by the national constitutions includes the right to live as one chooses so long as that choice does not interfere with the right of the another or the public. It is within this spirit that international laws as enshrined in the universal declaration of human rights guarantees the right to privacy with the law as the watch dog. Confidentiality however distinguishes itself from all the other rights of privacy in that, it arises from fiduciary relationship from which flows disclosures revealed on a platform of trust, confidence and the scrupulous good faith and candour which it requires.
The confidential physician patient relationship falls within this category. Confidentiality allows an intimate exchange of information facilitating appropriate care and correct diagnosis. The physician duty constitutes a protective shield against the unwanted intrusion from others. With the advent of the HIV virus, most hospitals upholding strongly the principle of confidentiality have developed passwords which can only be interpreted by the medical professionals themselves to indicate the virus. Infact the health care provider is set to own the medical records but the patient owns the information with the records.
The principle of confidentiality is not absolute Ethical, legal and statutory obligations may permit physicians to disclose information when legally requested by the court or for the purpose of legal investigations or referred to him in his capacity as a medical expert. At a minimum health care professionals have an ethical duty to inform patients prior to testing, as well as upon receipt of result that the, information obtained may have familiar implications. A person tested positive with the HIV virus automatically puts the wife/husband at risk. In such case exceptional disclosures are permissible when: -
 Attempts to encourage disclosure on the part of patients have failed
 The harm is highly likely to occur and if serious, imminent and foreseeable.
 The “at risk” relatives are identifiable and
 The disease is preventable

WOMEN’S VULNERABILITY TO HIV/AIDS IN CAMEROON
Of the 18million people living in Cameroon, about 52% are girls and women belonging to diverse cultures and religions. These women or girls represent a fascinating weave of modernity and tradition, progress and backwardness. A common stand that runs through this weaves is that of inequality between the privilege and not so privilege, between urban and rural, between men and women. The woman however have continued to make strides towards equality with men; whenever they are educated able to generate income and enjoy equal protection under the law, they are in a position to have some control over their economic, social and personal life. However, these goals are still remote for millions of Cameroonians who are vulnerable to HIV infections. This vulnerability is no doubt due to the number of factors
a) Biological Vulnerability; this applies generally to all women, the Cameroonian women inclusive. It is gathered from several sources that the risk of being infected with HIV as with other transmissible diseases during unprotected sexual intercourse, is as much as two to four times higher for women than men. This is because, as compared to men, women have a larger mucosal surface exposed during intercourse to their partner’s secretion. Since semen that is infected contains a higher concentration of the virus than a woman’s sexual secretions, this makes male to female transmission more efficient than female to male. In young girls their physiological immune cervix and scant secretion puts up fewer barriers to HIV so that they are at even greater biological risk. Tearing and bleeding during sexual intercourse whether from rough sex, rape, or prior genital mutilation (female circumcision), multiplies the risk of HIV infections in women. Anal intercourse practiced by some women as a means of preserving virginity or avoiding risk of pregnancy, often tears the delicate tissue and affords easy entry of the virus.
Another biological factor of great importance is an untreated sexually transmitted infection (STI)
in either partner, which multiplies the risk of HIV transmission by up to 10-fold.
Women are also epidemically vulnerable through blood transfusion during pregnancy or child birth.
b) Social vulnerability; social vulnerability despite constitutional and legislative guarantees, the unequal states of women is greatly manifested in almost all social aspects. For most Cameroonian women, their social standing and interaction in a male dominated society greatly contributed to the deadly diseases. The situation is such that most men expect sex with any woman who receives their support resulting in sexual subordination thus creating a very unhealthy atmosphere for AIDS prevention .Social attitudes are such that initiative and decision making in sex is left to the dominants males. Thus most women have no skills to resist or say no to unwanted and unsafe sex. Another issue of concern is the growing demand for younger sex partners, the sugar daddy phenomenon where old men offer young girls gifts and huge sums of money in exchange for sex. In other instances sex is the “currency” for pass grades, jobs opportunities. The high rate of promiscuity and acceptable infidelity is dangerous fertile grounds for women’s vulnerability.
c) Economic Vulnerability: due to the economic situation and circumstances, women’s autonomy is crippled. Lacking economic resources of their own, most women are vulnerable because they depend on the on men for support. In almost all cases men expect sex with any woman who receives their supports. Being fearful of abandonment or violence on the part of their male partners, they have little or no control over how and when they have sex and when and hence over the risk of becoming infected with HIV. In some areas, women have several male partners who provide support for their children’s needs and other necessities. The drastic cut in salaries in the 90’s and the economic crisis having dealt most Cameroonians a blow, women’s dependence on men’s support drastically increased. Furthermore, women also face a double burden relative to the epidemic. They are not only more vulnerable than men to acquiring the infection, but they also bear the greatest responsibility in providing care to infected family members.
1) Cultural and Traditional Practices: most of the campaigns on the fight against HIV/AIDS have so far been focused on orthodox means such as multiple sex partners , sharing of needles, blood transfusion and congenial infection from an infected mother to an unborn child among others. Research have shown that rooted in people’s cultures and traditional practices in Cameroon as in other African countries, are practice that are more dangerous potentials means of spreading the dreaded Virus. Some of these practices involve skin cut, lesions, wife inheritance, and widowhood rights, tribal marks, body scarification, tattoos, blood letting and female circumcision as explain below.
 Scarification by native / traditional doctors; this practice is pervasive amongst most Cameroonian even the elites. People still secretly visit these native doctors for charms and native powers to induce diverse kinds of favors such as promotion, monetary rewards, and insurance against perceived enemies including witches and wizards. Most native doctors satisfy these discrete but pervasive wishes by scarifying their clients and applying substances believed to possess powers to produce the desired results. There is the practice of scarifying the face in most tribes leaving terrible and sometimes very frightful and embarrassing tribal marks. The truth is that the surgical knives, blades, broken bottles, or sharp edged stones often used by these native doctors and elders of these tribes are not sterilized and the same tools are used on as many clients as possible. In the course of these practices, there is inevitable blood transfusion, a channel of contracting the HIV virus
 Widowhood rites / Wife Inheritance: In many African countries and Cameroonian tribes, a widow is compelled to sleep with her brother-in-law, presumably to make her pure and free from the curse of being a widow or being revisited by the dead husband. It is nobody’s business to know if the woman or brother-in-law is HIV positive. In other cases, the late husband’s brother, cousin or other male relation not minding the health status of either parties inherit the widow. There is also the practice in some villages whereby elderly and most often single men without children marry younger women of child bearing age to bear children for them, with no regard to the health status of the man or the woman.
 Female circumcision:- Despite international efforts and national and official attempts to outlaw it, female circumcision is still practiced in some parts of Cameroon especially the South and North West Provinces. It is considered an important cultural practice, which curbs immoral behaviour and gives guidance to the initiates on important matters of life. In most cases, older women carryout the circumcision as it is the case with scarification, the same instruments are employed for several cases with no regard to the health risks involved. Any campaign against AIDS that does not consider these cultural practices is not likely to succeed. But the question is, can the people be removed from these ingrained practices? How far are we ready to change these practices?
 Prostitution:- It constitutes another setting in which women have little power to protect themselves from HIV. Most young girls involved in prostitution are ignorant of the risk of contracting the HIV virus. Sexual exploitation of young girls in Cameroon is the most pernicious form of child abuse. While for some women, prostitution is a choice, many turn to occasional or steady sex work as an alternative to fight poverty, exchanging sex for basic necessities of life for themselves and their children. Some of these women are either divorcees or widows who because of inequitable laws and customs have lost their property as well as their husband’s earning power. The situation of economically unstable and not too viable single mother is most alarming.
 No Female Control Preventive Methods:- The Cameroonian woman does not have a suitable barrier method available for HIV prevention. The much-talked about female condom is little known and not yet widely used. Those who have heard of it or seen it complain that usage is not easy at all for various reasons. The only widely available effective method to prevent the heterosexual transmission of HIV is the male condom. There are no counseling services in the rural communities. Even where they exist most women will not seek HIV related counseling, testing, treatment and support for fear of being identified or face discrimination in case of positive result.
 Ignorance:- Most Cameroonian women do not have access to formal education for varied reasons and despite the available facilities. They therefore have very little information about their own bodies and education about HIV/AIDS. There are quite a large number of women who haven’t heard anything yet about AIDS and they remain ignorant of its existence, not to talk of its prevention.
Haven exposed the dangers of some of our cultures and tradition; it is obvious that the situation calls for a remedy – the empowerment of the rural woman. The Cameroonian woman needs to be empowered to have greater access/ control over the rate of HIV infections. Suggestions for such empowerment include:-
a) Literacy and adult education programmes as an important first approach. Steps should be taken to ensure that all, if not; most women in the very remote and rural areas of Cameroon and Africa in particular have education and information in its simplest form about basic human rights and HIV/AIDS. Women should be taught and encourage to negotiate safer sex and to say “NO” and be able to resist unsafe sex.
b) Women should be exposed to more income generating projects to allow the more autonomy. An economically independent woman does not need to exchange sex for her basic needs.
c) More healthy, available and accessible counseling services should be provided for women.
d) A forum should be made available for women to come together to expose cultural taboos that are detrimental to women’s health.
e) Female – controlled and easy to use preventive methods should be developed.
f) There should also be policy changes, particularly specific anti-discriminatory provisions for greater protection of women’s rights and increase economic independence and legal status. This should include a greater political voice for women.

HIV/AIDS AND MEDICAL CARE
The universal declaration of Human Rights in its Article 25 (1), the Cameroon 1996 constitution and WHO charter in its article 1, states that it is an individual’s inalienable right to get medical care when he is sick. Right now, the human race is perplexed by the HIV epidemic which has no vaccine or cure. The testing for HIV virus should be voluntary. It is an individual’s right to refuse to go for testing but such refusal is morally wrong where medical institution may want to conduct this test for statistical purposes, the consent of the blood donor / patient should be sought. It will be a medical malpractice if a doctor or a health institution conducts an HIV test on anyone without his consent. It has been poorly argued that for statistical purposes patients may be screened without their knowledge. Such an argument is unfounded and is in violation of the right of the patient, since the health status of an individual is a personal matter. HIV/AIDS is not a contagious illness. We have already seen that HIV could be contracted through coming in contact with HIV contaminated blood, semen or breast milk through blood infusions, blood contact, sexual intercourse, sharing needles or syringe. Therefore a doctor or medical institution that isolates HIV/AIDS patients may be liaised for discrimination and causing additional emotional pain and suffering. Is being HIV positive patient not enough punishment?
One can even classify such isolation, as punitive if the patient has contagious HIV related diseases. Why would anyone punish an HIV/AIDS patient? It is an actionable tort when a patient is given HIV contaminated blood or treated with HIV unspecialized medical instruments.
Antiretroviral drugs can reduce the level of HIV in blood and also treat HIV related infections, but in Cameroon, many infected persons especially those in rural communities have no access to these ARV’s. It is estimated that in many developing countries and Africa in particular, four out of every five person visit traditional health practitioners and use traditional treatments. Traditional healers already treat large numbers of people living with HIV and AIDS. It is therefore important to look into this area of healthcare. It is also important to improve the approaches to working with traditional doctors, this can improve HIV prevention and care services while continuing to advocate for improved access to modern medicine and treatment.
To help the Cameroonian population in the rural areas and most developing countries at large, medical officers should come up with programmes to train traditional health practitioners on the necessity of sterilizing blades and other sharp objects they use in administering their treatment, so as to minimize the risk of HIV infection. Appropriate training encourages traditional health practitioners to replace harmful practices or myths about HIV with safer practices. They should discourage the practice of witchcraft by not classifying the AIDS symptoms as caused by witchcraft. These traditional healers should be encouraged to promote sexual abstinence among youths and fidelity within married adults. Such values often agree with traditional beliefs about the causes of sexually transmitted infections and other illnesses and it is now recognized that reduction in the number of sex partners is a powerful factor in reducing HIV transmission. To pass on proper training in handling HIV/ AIDS cases to our traditional healers, workshops and seminars should be organized by the Ministry of Public Health. As far as legal issues are concerned, traditional healers must be made to understand that accusing people of being responsible of one’s misfortune or illness or death through witchcraft without proof is a defamatory statement and could lead to criminal prosecution.
AIDS AND EMPLOYMENT
An HIV infected person has right as all human beings do, amongst them, the right to work. The universal declaration of Human Rights states that “Every person shall have the right and obligations to work”. AIDS is an issue of human rights and it is necessary to protect the right of working men and women living with the virus, these rights inter alia are access to productive and decent work, social security benefits, health care and the right to confidentiality. In Cameroon, HIV/AIDS infected persons have had their rights to work trampled upon by employers. Applications of job seekers have been rejected because of their HIV/AIDS status. Working men and women with HIV/AIDS have suffered all forms of discrimination at their job sites. Gaining access to employment is a major problem for HIV infected persons. A number of companies now require job seekers to pass an HIV/AIDS test before employment. Men and women including those with HIV/AIDS have the right to work in condition of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. One of an employee’s greatest nightmares begins when he is known or presumed to be HIV positive. He suffers all forms of discrimination. He is isolated by his colleagues. In the private sector, he may be passed over for promotion and is not taken into consideration for training programmes no matter how hard he may work. At worst, the employer dismisses him. When one looks at the discrimination going on in the world of work against HIV/AIDS person, one might fear that in the long run such persons will be completely kept out of work. However this might not be the case as there are some employers who are beginning to realize that these person’s rights as human beings must be respected. Nevertheless, such actions will not go a long way in protecting the rights of HIV/AIDS persons on the whole, as some of the important issues to be addressed by the proposed law that will be of help to people living with AIDS are:
 A person should not be discriminated against with regard to terms and conditions of employment because of his HIV status, if he is otherwise qualified.
 The law should prohibit an employer from inquiring about an employee or job applicant medical status. This law should also provide for reasonable accommodations to enable HIV/AIDS workers perform the essential function of a job, that is, flexible working hours, time off for doctors appointment etc. this law must also lay out the various remedies available for HIV/AIDS persons where their rights have been violated. It doesn’t suffice to lay out the rights.
HIV/AIDS AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
In many African countries and Cameroon included there is an experience of growth in HIV/AIDS and this is evidence and increasing in ages between 18 to 40 years. This age bracket is considered to be that when the woman is sexually active and of child bearing age. Women are one of the fastest growing populations being infected with HIV and the number of AIDS cases among women is increasing steadily each year. Because the time of infection to developing AIDS can be variably long, many of these women acquire HIV in their teens or as soon as they become sexually active. Women are more at risk to be infected as male to female transmission is estimated to be eight times more likely than female to male. This is so because HIV is more easily transmitted from men to women due to greater expose surface area in the female genital track. Women do not as yet wear the condom, therefore they are not capable of protecting themselves from HIV infections. They can therefore not rely on their own skills, attitudes and behaviors regarding condom use. They have to rely on their ability to convince their partner to use a condom. Gender, culture and power may be barriers to maintaining safer sex practices. Women are disproportionally represented among the poor and the less likely to have access to health care services. Most of them will have to struggle for daily survival and may have no concern about HIV infections when having sexual relations and the impact may be felt many years later. Like many people in committed relationships, women might find intimacy in their relationships to be more important than protection against HIV. Usually, unsafe sex may be linked to emotional, social and possibly financial dependence on men. Women are furthermore vulnerable to be infected with HIV because they are mostly passive partners in sexual relations and can not be heard to refuse sex to their husbands or partners even if infection is suspected. They are vulnerable and not in a position to avoid infection because they either do not receive preventive education or information or cannot act on it, and when infected are disempowered to cope with the impact. The woman’s subordinate status limits opportunities to be informed about HIV/AIDS making them more vulnerable to infections and impairing their ability to deal with possible consequences of infection which require care and support. Women some times can not negotiate safer sex or leave their partners because of social and legal norms and economic dependency norms that promote motherhood as the ideal form of self worth. This increases the vulnerability to HIV and constrains reproductive choices for HIV positive women. Double standard about chastity and fidelity means that many monogamously married women are powerless to avoid infection by their husband. For many women, many of their HIV diagnoses can carry with it the devastating assumptions that they can and will never have children. Many others receive their diagnoses while pregnant this is so because many women are not tested for HIV unless they become pregnant or ill. And some women infected with HIV may decide to have their babies while others chose to have a termination. The decision to terminate a pregnancy is very personal since the Cameroonian law allows for termination on grounds of ill health. This article is an attempt to look at the reproductive right of unborn child and to say that the woman infected with HIV can still become pregnant and have a baby. Being pregnant will not increase the chances of developing AIDS. Research has shown that pregnancy does not speed HIV disease progression. Yes, a woman with an HIV positive test result has a right to become pregnant. The unborn baby has a right to live not withstanding the fact that his mother is HIV positive and stands the risk of being infected with the virus. It has been scientifically proven that not all babies born to an infected mother will have the virus at the time of birth. All babies born to mothers with HIV are born with HIVanti bodies but babies who are not infected loose their anti bodies by the time they are 18 months old. There is a possibility of the decline in numbers of the perinatally infected infant. This is due to:
The implementation of new knowledge in perinatal HIV prevention and treatment for pregnant women with HIV infection. AZT is the most commonly used and approved therapy for preventing transmission from mother to child. Delivery by elective caesarean sections also reduces the risk of a baby becoming infected. It is usually best for a baby to be breast fed. However, if the mother has HIV, breastfeeding will increase the risk of her baby becoming infected. Therefore a mother with HIV may not have to breast feed as bottle feeding is a safer alternative. The reduction in HIV transmission from mother to infant with the use of anti HIV drugs has been a remarkable success story. This major advance can be shared if there is easy access to the necessary drugs, adequate prenatal care, improved nutrition and prevention of breast feeding by the mother. All pregnant women ought to benefit from the informed counseling of the potential risk and benefits of using an optional and potent anti HIV regimen during pregnancy and then be allowed to make their own decision, unfortunately, little is known about the long term effects of this compound to the child. Due to so many unanswered questions, any HIV positive woman who is pregnant or considering pregnancy should seek the care or an advice of a clinician with experience and or knowledge of the latest break through in HIV research, this ensure the best possible prenatal care and the best possible out come for both the mother and child.
WOMEN AND HIV/AIDS-APRAGMATIC APPROACH
The health and wellbeing of women every where is of great important in its own rights. It is also the key to the health and wellbeing of their, family, communities and societies .but every year, millions of women in developing countries die in pregnancy and /or child birth. HIV presents an enormous challenge to safe motherhood. In sub Saharan Africa, millions of pregnant women are HIV positive. Women with HIV are likely to have complication during pregnancy and/or delivery, or abortion. They are also more vulnerable to anemia, malaria, pneumonia and tuberculosis (TB)both HIV prevention and care is an essential part of safe motherhood maternity services could play a crucial role by improving for pregnant women with HIV/AIDS before, during and after pregnancy. Fewer resources will be needed if programs work together.
 The vulnerability element: while it is important for men’s own health, that they become more involved in HIV prevention and care, there are important benefits for women too. Some of this links to women’s heightened vulnerability to HIV infection others tie more closely to equality and equity in care. Women’s vulnerability to HIV transmission is particularly a matter of biology. because virginal tissues if fragile , particularly in younger women, during unprotected virginal intercourse, an HIV man is twice as likely , to transmit the virus to an uninfected woman as an HIV positive is to infect her male partner . Women also made vulnerable by men’s greater economics and social power and by unequal gender relations. It is men who generally decided when and with whom to have sex and whether to use condoms or not. This leaves women with little or no control over these exposure to the deadly Virus it is men too who are usually the perpetrators of sexual violence whether in war or civil unrest or within ongoing relationships. in 1999 during the follow-up to the Beijing Fourth World Conferences on women, the 43rd session of the United Nation Commission on the statues of women attention was drawn to the need to educate women and men particularly young people, with a view to promoting equal relationships between men and women and to encourage to accept their responsibilities in matters relating to sexuality, reproduction and child bearing.
 Prevention through sex: there are many ways preventing the sexual transmission of HIV between women and their partners these includes abstinence, mutual fidelity, sex that does not involve virginal or anal penetration and condom use. However most prevention massages are simplicity and not tailored to the complex, and often hidden reality of men’s relationships with women or other men National AIDS campaigns have promoted abstinence outside marriage and fidelity within it wit some success. However, abstinence for young men is difficult and a menu of risk reduction option needs to be offered. The consistence use of male and female and female condoms in virginal or and sex also protects HIV and STI’s. Condoms, however, are under used for a variety of reason. In casual or commercial sex, men’s condom use is more common than in marriage but still often inconsistent in a study that was conducted in Zimbabwe, some two years ago, men interviewed had sex with prostitutes on an average of seven times a month but only used Condoms in about half of those encounters. Studies in many other countires have confirmed that female condom is an alternatives which some men and women find more comfortable than the male version. Like the male condom the female version can also be used for anal intercourse. Female condoms are, however much more expensive and difficult to acquire and because they remain visible during intercourse they still require male consent. When condoms are not used the prevalence of unsafe sex before an outside marriage plus the lack of HIV testing, means that millions of couple around the world, do not know whether they are practicing safer sex or not. Except when the goal is contraception introducing condoms use in a regular relationship, can be difficult. One problem is the difficulty of acknowledging premarital or casual sex and discussing the possibility of infection. For couples who wish to have children, the challenged is compounded by the fact that condoms interfere with procreation. A great deal of HIV transmission occurs as a result.
 Reproductive rights and choices: all women, regardless of their HIV status have the rights to choice whether and when to have children a woman who knows she is HIV positive , needs information about the HIV related risk of pregnancy for her self and her baby and how they can be reduced. But she most still be free to make her own decisions about whether or not to have children and should be supported in her choice.
 Ensuring mother’s rights to be healthy: All women need care and advice to help them remain healthy during their pregnancy. Protect women from HIV. The only completely reliable way to stop mother to child transmission of HIV is to prevent young girls and women from becoming HIV positive.
 Promote safe sex: Even after becoming pregnant, women should continue to practice safe sex unless they are absolutely certain that their partner is not HIV positive. Continuing to use condoms will also prevent STI’s. Keeping to one sexual partner makes sex safe on the condition that the partner is faithful.
 Test for, and treat all infection: An essential part of care for a pregnant woman is to look for, ask about and treat any infection she might have, especially those who are HIV positive. It is difficult for many women to decide what to eat because of poverty, customs or their status-leaving them fewer choices. Education about which local foods are most nutritious and the importance of pregnant women being well fed need to be un going. Discourage smoking and the use of alcohol and other drugs. Smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and the use of some drugs and herbal remedies can harm the unborn child. HIV positive women need to be especially careful because anything that damages their health can lower C D 4 counts.
 Provide Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV: Many women knowing their HIV status will help them make decisions that reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to their babies. The counselor might be a health worker such as a mid wife or a nurse, or may be a lay person. Peer counselors such as people who are themselves HIV positive. Can be very valuable.
 Points for Action:
 Gender awareness: promote understanding of the way in which gender stereotypes and expectation affects women and men. Support works that enhance gender equality and equity. Encourage discussion about the way girls are brought up and are expected to behave.
 Sexual communication and Negotiations: Encourage women to talk about sex with their partners enhance women’s capacity to determine when, where, and whether to have sex or not. Enhance both men and women access to appropriate sources to information, counseling and support. Promote greater understanding and acceptance of HIV/AIDS.
 Support and Care: Help women in their role as mother and providers of care and support within the family and community at large.
HUMAN RIGHTS, HIV/AIDS AND THE WOMAN
At the dawn of a new century, we still look at the future dominated by the deadly disease, which just a few decades ago were totally unknown. It may be shocking to know that over 75% of those infected with HIV live in the developing world, to which Cameroon belong. In this section, we will be considering the AIDS pandemic and HIV and how it affects women and children and what we can do about it.
1. The physiology of the woman: The mere fact that one is a woman has been proven, to make that person more vulnerable to contracting AIDS. Studies have confirmed that there is greater transmissibility of HIV from male to female. It has been estimated through research that the woman’s risk of being infected by HIV is at least twice that of a man. This is largely due to their physiological make up which has an extensive area of mucous membrane through which the virus get into the vaginal and to the cervix. Younger women, especially teenagers even run a greater risk due to their immature cervix and relatively low vaginal mucous. Production which are suspected to prevent less of a hindrance to HIV.
2. Childhood Marriages: In Cameroon like most African countries, young girls are given out to marriage as early as twelve years or even sooner. A girl child find herself married to a man who has maybe two other wives or children older than herself. He therefore has been sexually active for much longer and it is quite possible that he is already infected with HIV and as such, the girl child is of a very disadvantaged and pitiful position because as soon as soon as she indulges in sexual intercourse with her supposed husband, she finds herself with HIV.
3. Reproductive Health of Women: The fact that women carry pregnancies and are very dedicated during this period, makes them more vulnerable to epidemic. With complicated pregnancies and the need for blood transmission, the possibility of being infected is greater.
4. Labour Migration: Labour migration has been known to facilitate the spread of the disease with the woman again as the victim. Labour migration usually separates couples and leads to the establishment of temporarily migrant communities which are usually dominated by single sex most often man. This usually creates a market for prostitution as such; men have the money and need sex, so they are ready to pay for it. The examples are alive in Cameroon as we notice that wherever there has been the construction of roads, involving expatriate companies, who are Caucasians, we find a sudden prevalence of (mulatto) children (half-cast) which goes to demonstrate the sexual involvement of these workers in the community. The presence of these children is evidence that intercourse was done with no precaution. These types of women are far more prone to being infected with HIV.
5. Gender Inequality: Women in developing countries especially Cameroon and Africa at large are economically disadvantaged due to poor education, early marriages and no skill training which render them mostly unemployed. They are therefore dependent on men economically, which limits their choice on matters relating to health and sexuality. Also, the woman’s low social status and cultural demands which compares her to be always submissive to the male in sexual relations, further hampers her from controlling her sex life, she can not be heard to insist on the use of condoms. Also, the marital system of Polygamy which is prevalent in our towns and villages has the women at a disadvantaged position, as the husband goes from wife to wife can be infected by one wayward wife and the other wives will automatically be infected.
6. Women’s Attitude towards AIDS: The attitude of the woman herself in Cameroon to the issue of AIDS is quite alarming and a cause for concern. A study carried out with some female sex workers in Kumba, in the South West Province of Cameroon reveals that they all agree that AIDS exist, but they are doing nothing to protect themselves especially when the men are ready to pay huge sums of money. Some say they never use a condom with such clients the reason is simple. To these women, AIDS is not a reality as of now. For them, AIDS is something that affects other people not them. In their complacency, they feel out of the reach of AIDS. This non challence with which women in Cameroon have embraced the issue of AIDS requires that something more has to be done and urgently to raise awareness especially among female sex workers, female student on the dangers of AIDS and the fact that it is real.
7. Human Rights and Health: The universal declaration of Human Rights of 1948 gave the rights to every one to have a living standard sufficient to ensure one and his family good health as concerns food, clothing, housing, medical care and social services. Also, article 12 of the International Covenant on Economy, Social and Cultural rights also recognizes the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. These documents are the best legal and ideological weapons for protecting legal rights and autonomy of an individual. It therefore follows that for women to enjoy their human rights relating to health the following must be done;
 There has to be a cultural change which gives the woman the status of a partner in her marriage and not sub servant to her husband even on issues which concerns her health.
 There also has to be a free medical screening of HIV in all of the main towns of Cameroon where women can be encouraged at no cost to check themselves. For now, the cost of an HIV screening in Cameroon is 500 FRS ($1). This is still expensive.
 Empowerment of the woman economically is very important as it will make her independent to be able to control her sexuality if women are empowered economically, (by giving them some skills and small short term loans), they will find satisfaction in life and not continue to sell sex for a living.
 There has been a steep drop in our standards of morality. Infact, nowadays, you find high school and university girls kept by more than one “sugar daddies” who finance their acquired high taste. We call on the judges to do more in this area of moral rectitude to the girls and women whom the men have taken advantage of their vulnerability.
HIV/AIDS AND SOCIAL CONTROL
In the absence of a vaccine or cure, prevention is the only feasible strategy for fighting the HIV epidemic. This message of prevention has been preached for years, yet the spread of HIV virus is still on the increase. The estimated cumulative number of HIV infections worldwide has risen. About 80 - 90% is thought to be sexually transmitted. So has the prevention work?
The rise of the infection in developing countries seems to indicate a massive defeat of international response. However, as nobody knows the real virulence of HIV, of what would have happened with no planned prevention intervention, the score has to remain open. It may be that all the information, education and communication efforts and all the blood testing and counseling have infact prevented a much more devastating explosion internationally or in a certain local/national areas. Even without knowing precisely the impact of prevention effort on the spread of global HIV, the challenge remains in the absence of a vaccine prevention interventions will remain the key to HIV control. The information, education and communication approaches in the fight against HIV have stressed the change of behaviour in relation to sexual attitudes. Those who are sexually active are advised to adopt sexual behaviors that reduce the risk of infection. The intervention to break the chain of transmission is seen basically as a technique to physical barriers like condoms, behavioral barriers like the abstinence or partner reduction, to stop the passage of the virus from one person to another. Youths have been identified as the target of the information and education campaigns. To stop these youths from behaving sexually as they did in the past became the prime task of the prevention of all sexual transmission. Although it is true that in the end, each individual who acts sexually has to take responsibility for his/her action, it is nevertheless obvious that sexual behavior and consumption patterns are strongly influenced by gender, social, cultural and economic factors. What a given society regards as sexually right or wrong as a taboo, deviant or normal is decided by the individual actor, and not by a set of norms and values to which different gratifications and sanctions are attached. For example, in Africa the social inequality between men and women is most responsible for the spread of the virus. Women, especially youths generally lack the social power to set the terms of sexual relationships. Social isolation and lack of education limits their knowledge of prevention behavior. Young girls and women living in poverty are often enticed or coerced to trade sex for support or social promotion and maybe forced into prostitution or polygamous marriages, why inheritance and societal promotion and concentration of the male infidelity are factors which have been identified as favourable in the transmission of the virus and the AIDS disease. As a result of these factors, which centres largely on the vulnerability of a woman to HIV infection, the complete success of the prevention method a major break through is conceptual thinking has been negative. Therefore, a shift in emphasis must take place from concentration on individual behavioral change to addressing the social and cultural structure of sexual relations and the individual as part of a community and a network. In doing so, the state or community should also enhance the ability of women to control their sexual relationships. Men and women should talk openly about sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. The state or community should also encourage men to take care of themselves, their partners and families. Our society is plagued with some men who are irresponsible in every conceivable way. They have a denial syndrome and they blame everything on the woman. Our society also suffers from some promiscuous married women in the rural and urban cities, who have discriminate extra marital sex as a routine. The state or community must provide good and quality education of sexual health; HIV/AIDS and life preserving skills for youths in and out of schools.

HIV/SIDA, une approche complète
Automatically translated into French thanks to WorldLingo
Le SIDA
de PRÉFACE est considéré comme un de ravager la maladie de toutes les fois. Le fait que comme à la date il n'y a aucun traitement connu, rend le virus plus effrayant que jamais. La maladie a été autour pendant plus de 30 années, mais c'est une merveille que certains (jeunesse en particulier) sont audition juste à son sujet. Son origine est plus de n'importe quelle conséquence si c'est une punition pour notre immoralité ou ce qui jamais est il, ne cesse d'être d'importance comme si a maintenant comme victimes, le plus innocent c.-à-d. bébés et jeunesses.
La crise de SIDA est maintenant la crise des pays en voie de développement et du monde, particulièrement Afrique. Le syndrome clinique est le plus grand ennemi à cette de maladie mortelle et la plupart dévastatrice, car les personnes infectées continuent à écarter l'infection.
Le changement comportemental, l'acceptation par ceux infectée et leur coopération est la seule manière vers de combattre la diffusion de ce virus.

PRÉAMBULE
HIV/SIDA. Est-ce une affliction ou une malédiction ? Quel est ce virus qui détruit le ravage dans notre société et esprits scientifiques déroutants ?
Nous avons été dits par des scientifiques que HIV représente le virus humain d'immunodéficit et le SIDA représente le syndrome immunisé acquis d'insuffisance, qui est la dernière étape de la maladie.
Si vous êtes positif d'HIV, vous êtes atteint du virus et votre corps réagit en produisant des anticorps d'HIV. Si vous avez accès à une analyse de sang d'HIV, elle montrera ces anti corps.
Cependant une fois et l'individu est atteint d'HIV, il prend une certaine quantité de temps avant que l'organization développe des anticorps, donc il y a une certaine « période de fenêtre » quand une personne infectée examinera le négatif. Cette période de fenêtre durent souvent entre quatre semaines et six mois, dans des cas exceptionnels encore plus longtemps. Pendant cette période tout le HIV les personnes infectées sont infectieux.
La Science médicale a montré cela, quelques semaines après infection ; une minorité de personnes infectées éprouvent quelques symptômes aigus, souvent inaperçus.
Là après, tout le HIV a infecté des personnes éprouvent une longue période sans maladies sérieuses typiques la prétendue période « asymptomatique ». Cette période peut durer plusieurs années.
Pendant cette période asymptomatique, les personnes infectées peuvent transmettre le virus à d'autres. Après cette période, les premiers symptômes de la rupture pour la défense immunisée semblent sous forme d'certaines maladies qui désigné sous le nom du complexe relié par SIDA. L'étape finale véritable » SIDA de la maladie du « , suit quand une personne infectée par HIV développe un ou plusieurs des infections « opportunistes » et ou de cancers. Les maladies s'appellent opportunistes parce qu'elles tirent profit de l'occasion présentée par le système immunitaire affaibli. L'affaiblissement progressif de l'organization a finalement comme conséquence la mort du patient. Aucun traitement (et aucune vaccination contre) des infections par le HIV ou du SIDA n'a été encore découvert.
Les drogues aiment Efavirenz (EFV), Delavirdine (DLV), Nevirapine (NVP), AZT/3TC (Combivir), AZT/3TC/ABC (Trizivir), Zidovudine (AZT) et Didanosine (DDI) une fois utilisé en association ou avec l'autre médicament peut traiter ou améliorer l'état et la qualité de la vie médicaux de la personne infectée.
Ces drogues fonctionnent à côté d'abaisser la quantité d'HIV dans le sang (charge virale) et augmentent le nombre de cellules du lymphocyte CD4, un type de cellule immunisée dans le sang. Les scientifiques nous ont également dit que HIV peut être transmis par
le  Ayant le sexe non protégé avec quelqu'un qui est positif d'HIV. On pense environ 80 à 90 pour cent des infections pour être sexuellement transmis.
 Partageant des seringues et injectant l'équipement qui n'a pas été correctement stérilisé.
 Après avoir souillé l'équipement médical qui n'ont pas été correctement stérilisés ou n'ont pas été employés sur des personnes.
 Étant donné les transmissions de sang qui sont atteintes d'HIV.
 Insémination de distributeur avec le sperme infecté par HIV.
 Transmission verticale d'HIV de mère au bébé pendant la grossesse, la naissance d'enfant ou l'allaitement au sein. Le HIV/SIDA est sur un saccage doit dedans les pays en voie de développement et le Cameroun en particulier. Il a tué beaucoup et il tue la génération jeune et inventive de ce monde.
L'Afrique est maintenant une zone endémique qu'on peut comparer à une zone de guerre. Personne n'est libre - vous êtes une victime du virus ou une victime de la perte de parent, voisins, ami ou une connaissance réclamée par le virus. Nous trouvons les victimes qui ont été présentées du travail pour des raisons de santé ou des factures médicales élevées. Personne ne prononce le nom redouté du virus comme vraie cause du licenciement. Il est seulement chuchoté. La crainte a saisi les coeurs des hommes et la colère a consommé certaines de ceux qui ont étés positif avoué d'HIV. Ils ont joint des forces avec le virus de monstre pour infecter autant de personnes innocentes confiantes avant qu'ils meurent. Le taux de prédominance (7.2) de HIV/SIDA au Cameroun a stimulé on écrire sur HIV/SIDA, développement etc. de droits de l'homme. afin de sensibiliser les jeunesses du Cameroun et là-bas et les apporter aux questions légères aux lesquelles on peut confronter des victimes du virus, des médecins médicaux, et des établissements (public et privé). Puisque le HIV/SIDA est une nouvelle maladie, les lois du Cameroun ne reflètent pas la connaissance médicale courante ou une partie des problèmes socio-légaux qui se sont développés en raison du HIV/SIDA, etc. Puisque nous sommes parler des droits de l'homme et la loi par rapport aux victimes de HIV/SIDA, il est nécessaire de savoir quels droits de l'homme et la loi est
Les droits de l'homme peuvent être définissent comme règles qui sont égales et inaliénable et eux sont assurent la dignité si la race humaine. Ces règles sont la base de la liberté ; justice et paix dans le monde ils assurent les êtres humains apprécient la liberté de la parole et de croyance, et la liberté de crainte et veulent.
L'art 25 (1) de la déclaration universelle des droits de l'homme « stipule que des chaque ont les droits à un niveau la vie proportionné pour la santé et le bien-être de se et sa famille, y compris la nourriture, l'habillement, le logement et le soin médical, et des services sociaux nécessaires et la droite à la sécurité en cas du chômage, de la maladie, de l'invalidité, du veuvage et du manque de vieillesse et ou autre de vie dans les circonstances indépendantes de sa volonté. Quant à ce qui précède il est essentiel que des droits de l'homme soient protégés par la règle de la loi, si l'homme ne doit pas être obligé d'avoir recours, en dernier recours, à la rébellion contre la tyrannie et l'oppression.

La PROTECTION DES PATIENTS de HIV/SIDA CONTRE la discrimination
de DISCRIMINATION contre ceux vivant avec le HIV/SIDA est endroit commun dans notre société. Il est l'un des abus les plus significatifs de droits de l'homme dans la région du HIV/SIDA. Il empêche la pleines participation et intégration des personnes vivant avec HIV/Aids dans la communauté.
La discrimination peut l'un ou l'autre être directe ou indirecte. La discrimination directe se produit où une personne traite des autres moins favorablement qu'une troisième personne aurait été traitée dans des circonstances comparables.
La discrimination indirecte d'une part se produit où des conditions ou la condition peu raisonnables, telle que HIV obligatoire examinant, sont appliquées avec une proportion sensiblement plus élevée de personne d'un statut différent, doit pouvoir satisfaire à que des personnes du même statut contre lequel la personne prétendant avoir été distingué.
Les secteurs de la discrimination incluent le mariage, l'emploi, l'éducation, le traitement médical, le logement, l'immigration/émigration et plusieurs autres.
Il convient noter que HIV n'est pas en passant transmis. Un exemple de transmission occasionnelle est l'infection de gouttelette, qui se produit avec l'éternuement, tousser ou partager des ustensiles.
La discrimination devrait donc être interdite contre des personnes avec le statut perçu ou suspecté réel d'HIV, et le remède légal le plus efficace est l'établissement de la législation générale de discrimination qui interdit les êtres non pertinents injustes de distinction faits sur la terre du HIV/SIDA.
Il convient noter qu'en s'engageant à mettre fin à la discrimination pour de telles raisons, des états sont obligés pour protéger des individus contre des services publics secondaires de discrimination non seulement, mais également le secteur privé et les particuliers dans des activités publiques.
La réduction du préjudice contre PLWHA est importante et pratique car elle enlève des barrières sur le diagnostic tôt et le traitement. Des attitudes discriminatoires peuvent donc être changées en décrétant des lois anti-discriminatoires et protectrices au parlement, l'éducation, la formation et les médias et en assurant la procédure administrative efficace pour le logement des plaintes contre de telles attitudes.
Au Cameroun la discrimination et la stigmatisation contre des personnes vivant avec le HIV/SIDA est très commune. Le gouvernement par son personnel de santé, O.N.G.s et quelques corps privés a par des conférences et des programmes de médias essayés pour instruire et sensibiliser le public sur les manières possibles de contracter la maladie. C'est dans un peu pour arrêter la propagation de la maladie et pour décourager des attitudes discriminatoires envers des patients de HIV/SIDA mais la discrimination existe toujours et il reste beaucoup à faire pour l'éliminer ou supprimer complètement.
a) Attitudes discriminatoires changeantes par les parlements : le remède légal le plus efficace est l'établissement de la législation anti discriminatoire de général qui interdit la distinction injuste et non pertinente étant faite pour les raisons indiquées contre le PLWHA. Des ateliers ont été tenus dans quelques pays pour soulever la conscience de la question de HIV/SIDA et pour sensibiliser des politiciens aux questions de droit de l'homme.
Ces ateliers ont été réussis en créant un climat non de discrimination et la franchise au parlement. Il est à de tels ateliers que les participants vivant avec des membres ou des amis de famille qui sont HIV infecté peuvent publiquement reconnaître leur rapport avec ces personnes infectées. Ceux-ci peuvent changer les attitudes discriminatoires d'autres participants et préparer ainsi le terrain pour le passage facile par les parlements des lois anti discriminatoires. Au parlement de quelques pays ont créé une commission pour non la discrimination contre les personnes infectées par HIV tandis que d'autres corps parlementaires ont le travail avec l'autre organisation de SIDA pour combattre ces la discrimination. La législature, afin de lutter la discrimination contre PLWHA pourrait permettre « l'action affirmative » par exemple une communauté que le groupe peut donner la préférence à l'emploi aux personnes positives d'HIV parce qu'ils sont des membres d'une classe protégée qui a été soumise à la discrimination générale.
Évidemment, des normes de fournir la discrimination devraient être adressées par la législation ou l'exemple, la législature pourrait faire l'incapacité seulement une de HIV/SIDA de plusieurs raisons de faire un acte discriminatoire ; ce seul devrait être suffisant pour rectifier la conviction dans un point de droit institué contre des individus, société, ou corps pour distinguer contre ceux vivant avec le HIV/SIDA.
La législature pourrait également décréter les lois, qui permettent un raccordement occasionnel plutôt que la preuve de la conduite entre la conduite et le HIV/SIDA/incapacité discriminatoires à être une condition à a trouvé un traitement.
Le Parlement pourrait également assurer la création des procédures administratives efficaces pour déposer des plaintes et assurer l'existence de l'indépendant a informé et les avenues rapides pour la réparation telle que la commission de droits de l'homme ce qui ont des procédures spéciales pour dépister rapidement des caisses où les plaignants est terminalement défectuosité. Quelques unes de ces plaintes correctement manipulées décourageront la discrimination. Les remèdes reconnaissent par le Parlement devraient exister pour la discrimination systémique par les employeurs de compagnies particulièrement plutôt que le cas simple d'individus, qui ont limité l'application.
Emploi, étant un domaine principal où les attitudes discriminatoires sont endroit commun contre ceux qui vivent avec le HIV/SIDA, équipement obligatoire qui déclare que la personne a utilisé s'il peut exécuter les conditions inhérentes du travail.
b) Attitude discriminatoire changeante par l'ordre judiciaire : Dans quelques pays, l'ordre judiciaire a été visé comme instrument en changeant des attitudes discriminatoires liées au HIV/SIDA. Des ateliers ont été organisés pour sensibiliser des juges et pour créer la prise de conscience des questions de HIV/SIDA qui peuvent émerger dans les cours par exemple. action instituée par PLWHA ou sur leur nom contre des individus ou coopération pour des attitudes discriminatoires envers elles.
c) Attitudes discriminatoires changeantes par les états : l'état peut également changer des attitudes discriminatoires contre des personnes vivant avec le HIV/SIDA par l'éducation, la formation, et les médias. L'état, en utilisant une large cuisinière des médias tels que des films, la télévision, la radio, etc. pourrait ainsi que les entités appropriées telles que les groupes de médias, O.N.G., dispositif et la programmation distribuée pour promouvoir et confirmer le respect pour la droite et la dignité des personnes avec le HIV/SIDA et des membres du groupe vulnérable de tels programmes devrait viser à dissiper des mythes et des prétentions, au sujet de la vie avec le HIV/SIDA en les dépeignant comme amis, parents, collègues, voisins et associés. Un tel courage devrait également renforcer la réassurance au sujet des modes de la transmission du virus et de la sûreté du contact social journalier.
Les effets négatifs des attitudes de la discrimination et de la stigmatisation liées au HIV/SIDA ne peuvent pas être excédent souligné. Les gens vivant avec le virus d'HIV peuvent vivre les vies raisonnablement longues et productives, en particulier avec l'avance récente dans le traitement antiretroviral.
La tentative d'exclure prématurément des personnes vivant avec le virus de la main d'oeuvre sont injuste et une infraction des droits de l'homme. Ils sont également potentiellement peu économiques s'ils peuvent arbitrairement exclure la personne la plus qualifiée d'une position.
Ces attitudes distinctives doivent être découragées et changées. Ceux qui vivent avec le virus doivent être et sensation protégée contre la stigmatisation et la discrimination par leurs communautés. Pour que ces mesures protégées soient mises en application et le feutre désiré d'impact, elles le besoin les efforts concertés non seulement seul de l'état, ou le parlement, mais tout le monde dans le secteur public privé et de favoriser la distribution large et continue des programmes créateurs d'éducation, de formation et de médias conçoivent explicitement pour changer des attitudes de discrimination et de stigmatisation contre le HIV/SIDA en arrangement et acceptation.
Le bouclier de la confidentialité
de confidentialité est tiré de la large base a universellement accepté le principe d'une personne est exact à l'intimité. Une droite qui est juridiquement approuvée comme bouclier de l'appropriation sans garantie d'une personnalité à un, donner de la publicité de ceux affaires privées avec lesquelles le public n'a aucun souci légitime. C'est un juste légal indépendant de l'individu et sa violation constitue un acte délictuel. Doyen Prosser, dans son travail de sur acte délictuel, a distingué quatre catégories des actes délictuels embrassés dans les droites de l'intimité, confidentialité étant l'un de tels. Une droite qui est prévue sur la garantie constitutionnelle de la vie, liberté et la poursuite de l'inspiration de dessin de bonheur de la déclaration universelle des droits de l'homme, qui confirment les droites inaliénables et sacrées de la personne, il peut dire que quand la loi garantit à une la droite d'apprécier sa vie, un cadeau à lui quelque chose plus que juste la droite de respirer. La liberté qu'il conduit par la loi normale et reconnaissent par les constitutions nationales inclut la droite de vivre pendant qu'on choisit à condition que ce choix n'interfère pas la droite des autres ou du public. C'est dans cet esprit que les lois internationales comme enchâssées dans la déclaration universelle des droits de l'homme garantit la droite à l'intimité avec la loi comme surveillance. La confidentialité cependant se distingue de toutes autres droites d'intimité dans cela, il résulte du rapport fiduciaire duquel coule des révélations indiquées sur une plateforme de confiance, confiance et la bonne foi et la franchise scrupuleuses qu'il exige.
Le rapport patient de médecin confidentiel fait partie de cette catégorie. La confidentialité permet un échange d'information intime facilitant le soin approprié et le diagnostic correct. Le devoir de médecin constitue un bouclier protecteur contre l'intrusion non désirée de d'autres. Avec l'arrivée du virus d'HIV, la plupart des hôpitaux confirmant fortement le principe de la confidentialité ont développé les mots de passe qui peuvent seulement être interprétés par les professionnels médicaux eux-mêmes pour indiquer le virus. Infact the health care provider is set to own the medical records but the patient owns the information with the records.
The principle of confidentiality is not absolute Ethical, legal and statutory obligations may permit physicians to disclose information when legally requested by the court or for the purpose of legal investigations or referred to him in his capacity as a medical expert. At a minimum health care professionals have an ethical duty to inform patients prior to testing, as well as upon receipt of result that the, information obtained may have familiar implications. A person tested positive with the HIV virus automatically puts the wife/husband at risk. In such case exceptional disclosures are permissible when: -
 Attempts to encourage disclosure on the part of patients have failed
 The harm is highly likely to occur and if serious, imminent and foreseeable.
 The “at risk” relatives are identifiable and
 The disease is preventable

WOMEN’S VULNERABILITY TO HIV/AIDS IN CAMEROON
Of the 18million people living in Cameroon, about 52% are girls and women belonging to diverse cultures and religions. These women or girls represent a fascinating weave of modernity and tradition, progress and backwardness. A common stand that runs through this weaves is that of inequality between the privilege and not so privilege, between urban and rural, between men and women. The woman however have continued to make strides towards equality with men; whenever they are educated able to generate income and enjoy equal protection under the law, they are in a position to have some control over their economic, social and personal life. However, these goals are still remote for millions of Cameroonians who are vulnerable to HIV infections. This vulnerability is no doubt due to the number of factors
a) Biological Vulnerability; this applies generally to all women, the Cameroonian women inclusive. It is gathered from several sources that the risk of being infected with HIV as with other transmissible diseases during unprotected sexual intercourse, is as much as two to four times higher for women than men. This is because, as compared to men, women have a larger mucosal surface exposed during intercourse to their partner’s secretion. Since semen that is infected contains a higher concentration of the virus than a woman’s sexual secretions, this makes male to female transmission more efficient than female to male. In young girls their physiological immune cervix and scant secretion puts up fewer barriers to HIV so that they are at even greater biological risk. Tearing and bleeding during sexual intercourse whether from rough sex, rape, or prior genital mutilation (female circumcision), multiplies the risk of HIV infections in women. Anal intercourse practiced by some women as a means of preserving virginity or avoiding risk of pregnancy, often tears the delicate tissue and affords easy entry of the virus.
Another biological factor of great importance is an untreated sexually transmitted infection (STI)
in either partner, which multiplies the risk of HIV transmission by up to 10-fold.
Women are also epidemically vulnerable through blood transfusion during pregnancy or child birth.
b) Social vulnerability; social vulnerability despite constitutional and legislative guarantees, the unequal states of women is greatly manifested in almost all social aspects. For most Cameroonian women, their social standing and interaction in a male dominated society greatly contributed to the deadly diseases. The situation is such that most men expect sex with any woman who receives their support resulting in sexual subordination thus creating a very unhealthy atmosphere for AIDS prevention .Social attitudes are such that initiative and decision making in sex is left to the dominants males. Thus most women have no skills to resist or say no to unwanted and unsafe sex. Another issue of concern is the growing demand for younger sex partners, the sugar daddy phenomenon where old men offer young girls gifts and huge sums of money in exchange for sex. In other instances sex is the “currency” for pass grades, jobs opportunities. The high rate of promiscuity and acceptable infidelity is dangerous fertile grounds for women’s vulnerability.
c) Economic Vulnerability: due to the economic situation and circumstances, women’s autonomy is crippled. Lacking economic resources of their own, most women are vulnerable because they depend on the on men for support. In almost all cases men expect sex with any woman who receives their supports. Being fearful of abandonment or violence on the part of their male partners, they have little or no control over how and when they have sex and when and hence over the risk of becoming infected with HIV. In some areas, women have several male partners who provide support for their children’s needs and other necessities. The drastic cut in salaries in the 90’s and the economic crisis having dealt most Cameroonians a blow, women’s dependence on men’s support drastically increased. Furthermore, women also face a double burden relative to the epidemic. They are not only more vulnerable than men to acquiring the infection, but they also bear the greatest responsibility in providing care to infected family members.
1) Cultural and Traditional Practices: most of the campaigns on the fight against HIV/AIDS have so far been focused on orthodox means such as multiple sex partners , sharing of needles, blood transfusion and congenial infection from an infected mother to an unborn child among others. Research have shown that rooted in people’s cultures and traditional practices in Cameroon as in other African countries, are practice that are more dangerous potentials means of spreading the dreaded Virus. Some of these practices involve skin cut, lesions, wife inheritance, and widowhood rights, tribal marks, body scarification, tattoos, blood letting and female circumcision as explain below.
 Scarification by native / traditional doctors; this practice is pervasive amongst most Cameroonian even the elites. People still secretly visit these native doctors for charms and native powers to induce diverse kinds of favors such as promotion, monetary rewards, and insurance against perceived enemies including witches and wizards. Most native doctors satisfy these discrete but pervasive wishes by scarifying their clients and applying substances believed to possess powers to produce the desired results. There is the practice of scarifying the face in most tribes leaving terrible and sometimes very frightful and embarrassing tribal marks. The truth is that the surgical knives, blades, broken bottles, or sharp edged stones often used by these native doctors and elders of these tribes are not sterilized and the same tools are used on as many clients as possible. In the course of these practices, there is inevitable blood transfusion, a channel of contracting the HIV virus
 Widowhood rites / Wife Inheritance: In many African countries and Cameroonian tribes, a widow is compelled to sleep with her brother-in-law, presumably to make her pure and free from the curse of being a widow or being revisited by the dead husband. It is nobody’s business to know if the woman or brother-in-law is HIV positive. In other cases, the late husband’s brother, cousin or other male relation not minding the health status of either parties inherit the widow. There is also the practice in some villages whereby elderly and most often single men without children marry younger women of child bearing age to bear children for them, with no regard to the health status of the man or the woman.
 Female circumcision:- Despite international efforts and national and official attempts to outlaw it, female circumcision is still practiced in some parts of Cameroon especially the South and North West Provinces. It is considered an important cultural practice, which curbs immoral behaviour and gives guidance to the initiates on important matters of life. In most cases, older women carryout the circumcision as it is the case with scarification, the same instruments are employed for several cases with no regard to the health risks involved. Any campaign against AIDS that does not consider these cultural practices is not likely to succeed. But the question is, can the people be removed from these ingrained practices? How far are we ready to change these practices?
 Prostitution:- It constitutes another setting in which women have little power to protect themselves from HIV. Most young girls involved in prostitution are ignorant of the risk of contracting the HIV virus. Sexual exploitation of young girls in Cameroon is the most pernicious form of child abuse. While for some women, prostitution is a choice, many turn to occasional or steady sex work as an alternative to fight poverty, exchanging sex for basic necessities of life for themselves and their children. Some of these women are either divorcees or widows who because of inequitable laws and customs have lost their property as well as their husband’s earning power. The situation of economically unstable and not too viable single mother is most alarming.
 No Female Control Preventive Methods:- The Cameroonian woman does not have a suitable barrier method available for HIV prevention. The much-talked about female condom is little known and not yet widely used. Those who have heard of it or seen it complain that usage is not easy at all for various reasons. The only widely available effective method to prevent the heterosexual transmission of HIV is the male condom. There are no counseling services in the rural communities. Even where they exist most women will not seek HIV related counseling, testing, treatment and support for fear of being identified or face discrimination in case of positive result.
 Ignorance:- Most Cameroonian women do not have access to formal education for varied reasons and despite the available facilities. They therefore have very little information about their own bodies and education about HIV/AIDS. There are quite a large number of women who haven’t heard anything yet about AIDS and they remain ignorant of its existence, not to talk of its prevention.
Haven exposed the dangers of some of our cultures and tradition; it is obvious that the situation calls for a remedy – the empowerment of the rural woman. The Cameroonian woman needs to be empowered to have greater access/ control over the rate of HIV infections. Suggestions for such empowerment include:-
a) Literacy and adult education programmes as an important first approach. Steps should be taken to ensure that all, if not; most women in the very remote and rural areas of Cameroon and Africa in particular have education and information in its simplest form about basic human rights and HIV/AIDS. Women should be taught and encourage to negotiate safer sex and to say “NO” and be able to resist unsafe sex.
b) Women should be exposed to more income generating projects to allow the more autonomy. An economically independent woman does not need to exchange sex for her basic needs.
c) More healthy, available and accessible counseling services should be provided for women.
d) A forum should be made available for women to come together to expose cultural taboos that are detrimental to women’s health.
e) Female – controlled and easy to use preventive methods should be developed.
f) There should also be policy changes, particularly specific anti-discriminatory provisions for greater protection of women’s rights and increase economic independence and legal status. This should include a greater political voice for women.

HIV/AIDS AND MEDICAL CARE
The universal declaration of Human Rights in its Article 25 (1), the Cameroon 1996 constitution and WHO charter in its article 1, states that it is an individual’s inalienable right to get medical care when he is sick. Right now, the human race is perplexed by the HIV epidemic which has no vaccine or cure. The testing for HIV virus should be voluntary. It is an individual’s right to refuse to go for testing but such refusal is morally wrong where medical institution may want to conduct this test for statistical purposes, the consent of the blood donor / patient should be sought. It will be a medical malpractice if a doctor or a health institution conducts an HIV test on anyone without his consent. It has been poorly argued that for statistical purposes patients may be screened without their knowledge. Such an argument is unfounded and is in violation of the right of the patient, since the health status of an individual is a personal matter. HIV/AIDS is not a contagious illness. We have already seen that HIV could be contracted through coming in contact with HIV contaminated blood, semen or breast milk through blood infusions, blood contact, sexual intercourse, sharing needles or syringe. Therefore a doctor or medical institution that isolates HIV/AIDS patients may be liaised for discrimination and causing additional emotional pain and suffering. Is being HIV positive patient not enough punishment?
One can even classify such isolation, as punitive if the patient has contagious HIV related diseases. Why would anyone punish an HIV/AIDS patient? It is an actionable tort when a patient is given HIV contaminated blood or treated with HIV unspecialized medical instruments.
Antiretroviral drugs can reduce the level of HIV in blood and also treat HIV related infections, but in Cameroon, many infected persons especially those in rural communities have no access to these ARV’s. It is estimated that in many developing countries and Africa in particular, four out of every five person visit traditional health practitioners and use traditional treatments. Traditional healers already treat large numbers of people living with HIV and AIDS. It is therefore important to look into this area of healthcare. It is also important to improve the approaches to working with traditional doctors, this can improve HIV prevention and care services while continuing to advocate for improved access to modern medicine and treatment.
To help the Cameroonian population in the rural areas and most developing countries at large, medical officers should come up with programmes to train traditional health practitioners on the necessity of sterilizing blades and other sharp objects they use in administering their treatment, so as to minimize the risk of HIV infection. Appropriate training encourages traditional health practitioners to replace harmful practices or myths about HIV with safer practices. They should discourage the practice of witchcraft by not classifying the AIDS symptoms as caused by witchcraft. These traditional healers should be encouraged to promote sexual abstinence among youths and fidelity within married adults. Such values often agree with traditional beliefs about the causes of sexually transmitted infections and other illnesses and it is now recognized that reduction in the number of sex partners is a powerful factor in reducing HIV transmission. To pass on proper training in handling HIV/ AIDS cases to our traditional healers, workshops and seminars should be organized by the Ministry of Public Health. As far as legal issues are concerned, traditional healers must be made to understand that accusing people of being responsible of one’s misfortune or illness or death through witchcraft without proof is a defamatory statement and could lead to criminal prosecution.
AIDS AND EMPLOYMENT
An HIV infected person has right as all human beings do, amongst them, the right to work. The universal declaration of Human Rights states that “Every person shall have the right and obligations to work”. AIDS is an issue of human rights and it is necessary to protect the right of working men and women living with the virus, these rights inter alia are access to productive and decent work, social security benefits, health care and the right to confidentiality. In Cameroon, HIV/AIDS infected persons have had their rights to work trampled upon by employers. Applications of job seekers have been rejected because of their HIV/AIDS status. Working men and women with HIV/AIDS have suffered all forms of discrimination at their job sites. Gaining access to employment is a major problem for HIV infected persons. A number of companies now require job seekers to pass an HIV/AIDS test before employment. Men and women including those with HIV/AIDS have the right to work in condition of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. One of an employee’s greatest nightmares begins when he is known or presumed to be HIV positive. He suffers all forms of discrimination. He is isolated by his colleagues. In the private sector, he may be passed over for promotion and is not taken into consideration for training programmes no matter how hard he may work. At worst, the employer dismisses him. When one looks at the discrimination going on in the world of work against HIV/AIDS person, one might fear that in the long run such persons will be completely kept out of work. However this might not be the case as there are some employers who are beginning to realize that these person’s rights as human beings must be respected. Nevertheless, such actions will not go a long way in protecting the rights of HIV/AIDS persons on the whole, as some of the important issues to be addressed by the proposed law that will be of help to people living with AIDS are:
 A person should not be discriminated against with regard to terms and conditions of employment because of his HIV status, if he is otherwise qualified.
 The law should prohibit an employer from inquiring about an employee or job applicant medical status. This law should also provide for reasonable accommodations to enable HIV/AIDS workers perform the essential function of a job, that is, flexible working hours, time off for doctors appointment etc. this law must also lay out the various remedies available for HIV/AIDS persons where their rights have been violated. It doesn’t suffice to lay out the rights.
HIV/AIDS AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
In many African countries and Cameroon included there is an experience of growth in HIV/AIDS and this is evidence and increasing in ages between 18 to 40 years. This age bracket is considered to be that when the woman is sexually active and of child bearing age. Women are one of the fastest growing populations being infected with HIV and the number of AIDS cases among women is increasing steadily each year. Because the time of infection to developing AIDS can be variably long, many of these women acquire HIV in their teens or as soon as they become sexually active. Women are more at risk to be infected as male to female transmission is estimated to be eight times more likely than female to male. This is so because HIV is more easily transmitted from men to women due to greater expose surface area in the female genital track. Women do not as yet wear the condom, therefore they are not capable of protecting themselves from HIV infections. They can therefore not rely on their own skills, attitudes and behaviors regarding condom use. They have to rely on their ability to convince their partner to use a condom. Gender, culture and power may be barriers to maintaining safer sex practices. Women are disproportionally represented among the poor and the less likely to have access to health care services. Most of them will have to struggle for daily survival and may have no concern about HIV infections when having sexual relations and the impact may be felt many years later. Like many people in committed relationships, women might find intimacy in their relationships to be more important than protection against HIV. Usually, unsafe sex may be linked to emotional, social and possibly financial dependence on men. Women are furthermore vulnerable to be infected with HIV because they are mostly passive partners in sexual relations and can not be heard to refuse sex to their husbands or partners even if infection is suspected. They are vulnerable and not in a position to avoid infection because they either do not receive preventive education or information or cannot act on it, and when infected are disempowered to cope with the impact. The woman’s subordinate status limits opportunities to be informed about HIV/AIDS making them more vulnerable to infections and impairing their ability to deal with possible consequences of infection which require care and support. Women some times can not negotiate safer sex or leave their partners because of social and legal norms and economic dependency norms that promote motherhood as the ideal form of self worth. This increases the vulnerability to HIV and constrains reproductive choices for HIV positive women. Double standard about chastity and fidelity means that many monogamously married women are powerless to avoid infection by their husband. For many women, many of their HIV diagnoses can carry with it the devastating assumptions that they can and will never have children. Many others receive their diagnoses while pregnant this is so because many women are not tested for HIV unless they become pregnant or ill. And some women infected with HIV may decide to have their babies while others chose to have a termination. The decision to terminate a pregnancy is very personal since the Cameroonian law allows for termination on grounds of ill health. This article is an attempt to look at the reproductive right of unborn child and to say that the woman infected with HIV can still become pregnant and have a baby. Being pregnant will not increase the chances of developing AIDS. Research has shown that pregnancy does not speed HIV disease progression. Yes, a woman with an HIV positive test result has a right to become pregnant. The unborn baby has a right to live not withstanding the fact that his mother is HIV positive and stands the risk of being infected with the virus. It has been scientifically proven that not all babies born to an infected mother will have the virus at the time of birth. All babies born to mothers with HIV are born with HIVanti bodies but babies who are not infected loose their anti bodies by the time they are 18 months old. There is a possibility of the decline in numbers of the perinatally infected infant. This is due to:
The implementation of new knowledge in perinatal HIV prevention and treatment for pregnant women with HIV infection. AZT is the most commonly used and approved therapy for preventing transmission from mother to child. Delivery by elective caesarean sections also reduces the risk of a baby becoming infected. It is usually best for a baby to be breast fed. However, if the mother has HIV, breastfeeding will increase the risk of her baby becoming infected. Therefore a mother with HIV may not have to breast feed as bottle feeding is a safer alternative. The reduction in HIV transmission from mother to infant with the use of anti HIV drugs has been a remarkable success story. This major advance can be shared if there is easy access to the necessary drugs, adequate prenatal care, improved nutrition and prevention of breast feeding by the mother. All pregnant women ought to benefit from the informed counseling of the potential risk and benefits of using an optional and potent anti HIV regimen during pregnancy and then be allowed to make their own decision, unfortunately, little is known about the long term effects of this compound to the child. Due to so many unanswered questions, any HIV positive woman who is pregnant or considering pregnancy should seek the care or an advice of a clinician with experience and or knowledge of the latest break through in HIV research, this ensure the best possible prenatal care and the best possible out come for both the mother and child.
WOMEN AND HIV/AIDS-APRAGMATIC APPROACH
The health and wellbeing of women every where is of great important in its own rights. It is also the key to the health and wellbeing of their, family, communities and societies .but every year, millions of women in developing countries die in pregnancy and /or child birth. HIV presents an enormous challenge to safe motherhood. In sub Saharan Africa, millions of pregnant women are HIV positive. Women with HIV are likely to have complication during pregnancy and/or delivery, or abortion. They are also more vulnerable to anemia, malaria, pneumonia and tuberculosis (TB)both HIV prevention and care is an essential part of safe motherhood maternity services could play a crucial role by improving for pregnant women with HIV/AIDS before, during and after pregnancy. Fewer resources will be needed if programs work together.
 The vulnerability element: while it is important for men’s own health, that they become more involved in HIV prevention and care, there are important benefits for women too. Some of this links to women’s heightened vulnerability to HIV infection others tie more closely to equality and equity in care. Women’s vulnerability to HIV transmission is particularly a matter of biology. because virginal tissues if fragile , particularly in younger women, during unprotected virginal intercourse, an HIV man is twice as likely , to transmit the virus to an uninfected woman as an HIV positive is to infect her male partner . Women also made vulnerable by men’s greater economics and social power and by unequal gender relations. It is men who generally decided when and with whom to have sex and whether to use condoms or not. This leaves women with little or no control over these exposure to the deadly Virus it is men too who are usually the perpetrators of sexual violence whether in war or civil unrest or within ongoing relationships. in 1999 during the follow-up to the Beijing Fourth World Conferences on women, the 43rd session of the United Nation Commission on the statues of women attention was drawn to the need to educate women and men particularly young people, with a view to promoting equal relationships between men and women and to encourage to accept their responsibilities in matters relating to sexuality, reproduction and child bearing.
 Prevention through sex: there are many ways preventing the sexual transmission of HIV between women and their partners these includes abstinence, mutual fidelity, sex that does not involve virginal or anal penetration and condom use. However most prevention massages are simplicity and not tailored to the complex, and often hidden reality of men’s relationships with women or other men National AIDS campaigns have promoted abstinence outside marriage and fidelity within it wit some success. However, abstinence for young men is difficult and a menu of risk reduction option needs to be offered. The consistence use of male and female and female condoms in virginal or and sex also protects HIV and STI’s. Condoms, however, are under used for a variety of reason. In casual or commercial sex, men’s condom use is more common than in marriage but still often inconsistent in a study that was conducted in Zimbabwe, some two years ago, men interviewed had sex with prostitutes on an average of seven times a month but only used Condoms in about half of those encounters. Studies in many other countires have confirmed that female condom is an alternatives which some men and women find more comfortable than the male version. Like the male condom the female version can also be used for anal intercourse. Female condoms are, however much more expensive and difficult to acquire and because they remain visible during intercourse they still require male consent. When condoms are not used the prevalence of unsafe sex before an outside marriage plus the lack of HIV testing, means that millions of couple around the world, do not know whether they are practicing safer sex or not. Except when the goal is contraception introducing condoms use in a regular relationship, can be difficult. One problem is the difficulty of acknowledging premarital or casual sex and discussing the possibility of infection. For couples who wish to have children, the challenged is compounded by the fact that condoms interfere with procreation. A great deal of HIV transmission occurs as a result.
 Reproductive rights and choices: all women, regardless of their HIV status have the rights to choice whether and when to have children a woman who knows she is HIV positive , needs information about the HIV related risk of pregnancy for her self and her baby and how they can be reduced. But she most still be free to make her own decisions about whether or not to have children and should be supported in her choice.
 Ensuring mother’s rights to be healthy: All women need care and advice to help them remain healthy during their pregnancy. Protect women from HIV. The only completely reliable way to stop mother to child transmission of HIV is to prevent young girls and women from becoming HIV positive.
 Promote safe sex: Even after becoming pregnant, women should continue to practice safe sex unless they are absolutely certain that their partner is not HIV positive. Continuing to use condoms will also prevent STI’s. Keeping to one sexual partner makes sex safe on the condition that the partner is faithful.
 Test for, and treat all infection: An essential part of care for a pregnant woman is to look for, ask about and treat any infection she might have, especially those who are HIV positive. It is difficult for many women to decide what to eat because of poverty, customs or their status-leaving them fewer choices. Education about which local foods are most nutritious and the importance of pregnant women being well fed need to be un going. Discourage smoking and the use of alcohol and other drugs. Smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and the use of some drugs and herbal remedies can harm the unborn child. HIV positive women need to be especially careful because anything that damages their health can lower C D 4 counts.
 Provide Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV: Many women knowing their HIV status will help them make decisions that reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to their babies. The counselor might be a health worker such as a mid wife or a nurse, or may be a lay person. Peer counselors such as people who are themselves HIV positive. Can be very valuable.
 Points for Action:
 Gender awareness: promote understanding of the way in which gender stereotypes and expectation affects women and men. Support works that enhance gender equality and equity. Encourage discussion about the way girls are brought up and are expected to behave.
 Sexual communication and Negotiations: Encourage women to talk about sex with their partners enhance women’s capacity to determine when, where, and whether to have sex or not. Enhance both men and women access to appropriate sources to information, counseling and support. Promote greater understanding and acceptance of HIV/AIDS.
 Support and Care: Help women in their role as mother and providers of care and support within the family and community at large.
HUMAN RIGHTS, HIV/AIDS AND THE WOMAN
At the dawn of a new century, we still look at the future dominated by the deadly disease, which just a few decades ago were totally unknown. It may be shocking to know that over 75% of those infected with HIV live in the developing world, to which Cameroon belong. In this section, we will be considering the AIDS pandemic and HIV and how it affects women and children and what we can do about it.
1. The physiology of the woman: The mere fact that one is a woman has been proven, to make that person more vulnerable to contracting AIDS. Studies have confirmed that there is greater transmissibility of HIV from male to female. It has been estimated through research that the woman’s risk of being infected by HIV is at least twice that of a man. This is largely due to their physiological make up which has an extensive area of mucous membrane through which the virus get into the vaginal and to the cervix. Younger women, especially teenagers even run a greater risk due to their immature cervix and relatively low vaginal mucous. Production which are suspected to prevent less of a hindrance to HIV.
2. Childhood Marriages: In Cameroon like most African countries, young girls are given out to marriage as early as twelve years or even sooner. A girl child find herself married to a man who has maybe two other wives or children older than herself. He therefore has been sexually active for much longer and it is quite possible that he is already infected with HIV and as such, the girl child is of a very disadvantaged and pitiful position because as soon as soon as she indulges in sexual intercourse with her supposed husband, she finds herself with HIV.
3. Reproductive Health of Women: The fact that women carry pregnancies and are very dedicated during this period, makes them more vulnerable to epidemic. With complicated pregnancies and the need for blood transmission, the possibility of being infected is greater.
4. Labour Migration: Labour migration has been known to facilitate the spread of the disease with the woman again as the victim. Labour migration usually separates couples and leads to the establishment of temporarily migrant communities which are usually dominated by single sex most often man. This usually creates a market for prostitution as such; men have the money and need sex, so they are ready to pay for it. The examples are alive in Cameroon as we notice that wherever there has been the construction of roads, involving expatriate companies, who are Caucasians, we find a sudden prevalence of (mulatto) children (half-cast) which goes to demonstrate the sexual involvement of these workers in the community. The presence of these children is evidence that intercourse was done with no precaution. These types of women are far more prone to being infected with HIV.
5. Gender Inequality: Women in developing countries especially Cameroon and Africa at large are economically disadvantaged due to poor education, early marriages and no skill training which render them mostly unemployed. They are therefore dependent on men economically, which limits their choice on matters relating to health and sexuality. Also, the woman’s low social status and cultural demands which compares her to be always submissive to the male in sexual relations, further hampers her from controlling her sex life, she can not be heard to insist on the use of condoms. Also, the marital system of Polygamy which is prevalent in our towns and villages has the women at a disadvantaged position, as the husband goes from wife to wife can be infected by one wayward wife and the other wives will automatically be infected.
6. Women’s Attitude towards AIDS: The attitude of the woman herself in Cameroon to the issue of AIDS is quite alarming and a cause for concern. A study carried out with some female sex workers in Kumba, in the South West Province of Cameroon reveals that they all agree that AIDS exist, but they are doing nothing to protect themselves especially when the men are ready to pay huge sums of money. Some say they never use a condom with such clients the reason is simple. To these women, AIDS is not a reality as of now. For them, AIDS is something that affects other people not them. In their complacency, they feel out of the reach of AIDS. This non challence with which women in Cameroon have embraced the issue of AIDS requires that something more has to be done and urgently to raise awareness especially among female sex workers, female student on the dangers of AIDS and the fact that it is real.
7. Human Rights and Health: The universal declaration of Human Rights of 1948 gave the rights to every one to have a living standard sufficient to ensure one and his family good health as concerns food, clothing, housing, medical care and social services. Also, article 12 of the International Covenant on Economy, Social and Cultural rights also recognizes the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. These documents are the best legal and ideological weapons for protecting legal rights and autonomy of an individual. It therefore follows that for women to enjoy their human rights relating to health the following must be done;
 There has to be a cultural change which gives the woman the status of a partner in her marriage and not sub servant to her husband even on issues which concerns her health.
 There also has to be a free medical screening of HIV in all of the main towns of Cameroon where women can be encouraged at no cost to check themselves. For now, the cost of an HIV screening in Cameroon is 500 FRS ($1). This is still expensive.
 Empowerment of the woman economically is very important as it will make her independent to be able to control her sexuality if women are empowered economically, (by giving them some skills and small short term loans), they will find satisfaction in life and not continue to sell sex for a living.
 There has been a steep drop in our standards of morality. Infact, nowadays, you find high school and university girls kept by more than one “sugar daddies” who finance their acquired high taste. We call on the judges to do more in this area of moral rectitude to the girls and women whom the men have taken advantage of their vulnerability.
HIV/AIDS AND SOCIAL CONTROL
In the absence of a vaccine or cure, prevention is the only feasible strategy for fighting the HIV epidemic. This message of prevention has been preached for years, yet the spread of HIV virus is still on the increase. The estimated cumulative number of HIV infections worldwide has risen. About 80 - 90% is thought to be sexually transmitted. So has the prevention work?
The rise of the infection in developing countries seems to indicate a massive defeat of international response. However, as nobody knows the real virulence of HIV, of what would have happened with no planned prevention intervention, the score has to remain open. It may be that all the information, education and communication efforts and all the blood testing and counseling have infact prevented a much more devastating explosion internationally or in a certain local/national areas. Even without knowing precisely the impact of prevention effort on the spread of global HIV, the challenge remains in the absence of a vaccine prevention interventions will remain the key to HIV control. The information, education and communication approaches in the fight against HIV have stressed the change of behaviour in relation to sexual attitudes. Those who are sexually active are advised to adopt sexual behaviors that reduce the risk of infection. The intervention to break the chain of transmission is seen basically as a technique to physical barriers like condoms, behavioral barriers like the abstinence or partner reduction, to stop the passage of the virus from one person to another. Youths have been identified as the target of the information and education campaigns. To stop these youths from behaving sexually as they did in the past became the prime task of the prevention of all sexual transmission. Although it is true that in the end, each individual who acts sexually has to take responsibility for his/her action, it is nevertheless obvious that sexual behavior and consumption patterns are strongly influenced by gender, social, cultural and economic factors. What a given society regards as sexually right or wrong as a taboo, deviant or normal is decided by the individual actor, and not by a set of norms and values to which different gratifications and sanctions are attached. For example, in Africa the social inequality between men and women is most responsible for the spread of the virus. Women, especially youths generally lack the social power to set the terms of sexual relationships. Social isolation and lack of education limits their knowledge of prevention behavior. Young girls and women living in poverty are often enticed or coerced to trade sex for support or social promotion and maybe forced into prostitution or polygamous marriages, why inheritance and societal promotion and concentration of the male infidelity are factors which have been identified as favourable in the transmission of the virus and the AIDS disease. As a result of these factors, which centres largely on the vulnerability of a woman to HIV infection, the complete success of the prevention method a major break through is conceptual thinking has been negative. Therefore, a shift in emphasis must take place from concentration on individual behavioral change to addressing the social and cultural structure of sexual relations and the individual as part of a community and a network. In doing so, the state or community should also enhance the ability of women to control their sexual relationships. Men and women should talk openly about sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. The state or community should also encourage men to take care of themselves, their partners and families. Our society is plagued with some men who are irresponsible in every conceivable way. They have a denial syndrome and they blame everything on the woman. Our society also suffers from some promiscuous married women in the rural and urban cities, who have discriminate extra marital sex as a routine. The state or community must provide good and quality education of sexual health; HIV/AIDS and life preserving skills for youths in and out of schools.

HIV/AIDS, un acercamiento comprensivo
Automatically translated into Spanish thanks to WorldLingo
El SIDA
del PREFACIO se está mirando como uno de la enfermedad ravaging lo más de todas las veces. El hecho que como en la fecha no hay curación sabida, hace el virus más espantoso que siempre. La enfermedad ha estado alrededor por más de 30 años, pero es una maravilla que alguna gente (juventud particularmente) es audiencia justa sobre ella. Su origen es de cualquier consecuencia si es un castigo para nuestra inmoralidad o cuáles es siempre, deja no más de ser de importancia como si ahora tenga como víctimas, el más inocente es decir. bebés y juventudes.
La crisis del SIDA ahora es la crisis de los países en vías de desarrollo y del mundo, especialmente África. El síndrome clínico es el enemigo más grande a esta de la enfermedad fatal y la mayoría devastadora, a medida que las personas infectadas continúan separando la infección.
El cambio del comportamiento, la aceptación por ésas infectada y su cooperación es la única manera hacia de luchar la extensión de este virus.

PREÁMBULO
HIV/AIDS. ¿Es una aflicción o una maldición? ¿Cuál es este virus que está arruinando estrago en nuestra sociedad y mentes científicas que deslumbran?
Los científicos nos hemos dicho que el VIH esté parado para el virus humano de la inmunodeficiencia y el SIDA está parado para el síndrome inmune adquirido de la deficiencia, que es la etapa pasada de la enfermedad.
Si usted es positivo del VIH, le infectan con el virus y su cuerpo reacciona produciendo los anticuerpos del VIH. Si usted tiene acceso a un análisis de sangre del VIH, demostrará estos contra cuerpos.
Sin embargo una vez e infectan al individuo con VIH, él toma cierta cantidad de tiempo antes de que el organismo desarrolle los anticuerpos, por lo tanto hay cierto “período de la ventana” cuando una persona infectada probará la negativa. Este período de la ventana dura para a menudo entre cuatro semanas y seis meses, en casos excepcionales incluso más de largo. Durante este período todo el VIH las personas infectadas es infeccioso.
La ciencia médica ha demostrado eso, algunas semanas después de la infección; una minoría de personas infectadas experimenta algunos síntomas agudos, a menudo inadvertidos.
Allí después de, todo el VIH infectó a personas experimenta un período largo sin enfermedades serias típicas el período “asintomático” supuesto. Este período puede durar varios años.
Durante este período asintomático, las personas infectadas pueden transmitir el virus a otros. Después de este período, los primeros síntomas de la interrupción para la defensa inmune aparecen bajo la forma de ciertas enfermedades que se han referido como complejo relacionado SIDA. La etapa final verdadero” SIDA de la enfermedad del “, sigue cuando una persona infectada VIH desarrolla uno o más de las infecciones “opportunistic” y o de los cánceres. Las enfermedades se llaman opportunistic porque se aprovechan de la oportunidad presentada por el sistema inmune debilitado. El debilitamiento progresivo del organismo da lugar finalmente a la muerte del paciente. No se ha descubierto ninguna curación (y ninguna vacunación contra) de infecciones VIH o del SIDA todavía.
Las drogas tienen gusto de Efavirenz (EFV), de Delavirdine (DLV), de Nevirapine (NVP), de AZT/3TC (Combivir), de AZT/3TC/ABC (Trizivir), de Zidovudine (AZT) y de Didanosine (DDI) cuando está utilizado en la combinación o con la otra medicación puede tratar o mejorar la condición y la calidad de la vida médicas de la persona infectada.
Estas drogas trabajan bajando la cantidad de VIH en la sangre (carga viral) y aumentan el número de las células del linfocito CD4, un tipo de célula inmune en la sangre. Los científicos nos tienen también dicho que el VIH pueda ser transmitido a través
de  Teniendo sexo desprotegido con alguien que es positivo del VIH. Cerca de 80 a 90 por ciento de las infecciones se piensan para ser transmitidos sexual.
 Compartiendo las jeringuillas e inyectando el equipo que no se ha esterilizado correctamente.
 Contaminando el equipo médico que no se han esterilizado ni se han utilizado correctamente en la gente.
 Siendo dado las transmisiones de la sangre que se infectan con el VIH.
 Inseminación dispensadora de aceite con semen infectado VIH.
 Transmisión vertical del VIH de la madre al bebé durante embarazo, nacimiento del niño o el amamantamiento. HIV/AIDS está en un alboroto adentro debe los países en vías de desarrollo y Camerún particularmente. Ha matado a muchos y está matando a la generación joven e inventiva de este mundo.
África ahora es una zona endémica que una puede comparar a una zona de la guerra. Nadie está libre - usted es una víctima del virus o una víctima de la pérdida de pariente, vecinos, amigo o un conocido demandado por el virus. Encontramos a víctimas que se han presentado del trabajo por razones de la salud o altas cuentas médicas. Nadie pronuncia el nombre temido del virus como la causa verdadera del despido. Se susurra solamente. El miedo ha agarrado los corazones de hombres y la cólera ha consumido a algunos de los que han sido positivo declarado del VIH. Han ensamblado fuerzas con el virus del monstruo para infectar a tanta gente inocente unsuspecting antes de que mueran. El índice del predominio (7.2) de HIV/AIDS en Camerún ha estimulado uno escribir en HIV/AIDS, el desarrollo etc. de los derechos humanos. para sensibilizar las juventudes de Camerún y más allá y traerlas a las ediciones ligeras con las cuales las víctimas del virus, de los doctores médicos, y de las instituciones (público y privado) pueden ser hechas frente. Puesto que HIV/AIDS es una nueva enfermedad, los leyes de Camerún no reflejan el conocimiento médico actual o algo de los problemas socio-legales que se han convertido como resultado de HIV/AIDS, de etc. Puesto que somos el hablar de derechos humanos y la ley en lo referente a víctimas de HIV/AIDS, es necesario saber qué derechos humanos y la ley es
Los derechos humanos pueden ser definen como reglas que sean iguales e inalienable y ellos asegura dignidad si es la raza humana. Estas reglas son la fundación de la libertad; justicia y paz en el mundo aseguran seres humanos gozan de la libertad del discurso y de la creencia, y de la libertad del miedo y desean.
El arte 25 (1) del declaración universal de derechos humanos “estipula que cada tiene las derechas a un estándar vivir adecuado para la salud y bienestar de se y su familia, incluyendo el alimento, ropa, cubierta y asistencia médica, y los servicios sociales necesarios y la derecha a la seguridad en caso del desempleo, de la enfermedad, de la inhabilidad, del widowhood y de la carencia de la vejez, u otra del sustento en circunstancias más allá de su control. En lo que respecta al antedicho es esencial que los derechos humanos sean protegidos por la regla de la ley, si no se va a obligase al hombre que tenga recurso, como último recurso, a la rebelión contra tiranía y la opresión.

La PROTECCIÓN DE LOS PACIENTES de HIV/AIDS CONTRA la discriminación
de la DISCRIMINACIÓN contra ésos que viven con HIV/AIDS es lugar común en nuestra sociedad. Es uno de los abusos más significativos de los derechos humanos del área de HIV/AIDS. Impide la participación y la integración completas de la gente que vive con HIV/Aids en la comunidad.
La discriminación puede cualquiera ser directa o indirecta. La discriminación directa ocurre donde una persona trata otra menos favorable que una tercera persona habría sido tratada en circunstancias comparables.
La discriminación indirecta por otra parte ocurre donde las condiciones o el requisito desrazonables, tal como VIH obligatorio que prueba, se aplican con una parte substancialmente más elevada de la persona de un diverso estado, debe poder conformarse con que personas del mismo estado contra el cual la persona que demanda haber sido discriminado.
Las áreas de la discriminación incluyen la unión, el empleo, la educación, el tratamiento médico, la comodidad, la inmigración/la emigración y varios otras.
Debe ser observado que el VIH no está transmitido ocasional. Un ejemplo de la transmisión ocasional es la infección de la gotita, que ocurre con el estornudo, toser o compartir los utensilios.
La discriminación se debe por lo tanto prohibir contra personas con estado percibido o sospechado real del VIH, y el remedio legal más eficaz es la promulgación de la legislación general de la discriminación que prohíbe los seres inaplicables injustos de la distinción hechos en la tierra de HIV/AIDS.
Debe ser observado que en la empresa terminar la discriminación en tales argumentos, los estados están obligados para proteger a individuos contra autoridades públicas bye de la discriminación no sólo, pero también el sector privado y los individuos privados en actividades públicas.
La reducción de prejudicar contra PLWHA es importante y práctica pues quita barreras a la diagnosis temprana y al tratamiento. Las actitudes discriminatorias pueden por lo tanto ser cambiadas decretando leyes contra-discriminatorios y protectores en el parlamento, con la educación, el entrenamiento y los medios y asegurar el procedimiento administrativo eficaz para el alojamiento de quejas contra tales actitudes.
En Camerún la discriminación y el stigmatization contra la gente que vive con HIV/AIDS es muy comunes. El gobierno a través de su personal de salud, de los NGOs y de algunos cuerpos privados tiene con conferencias y programas de los medios intentados para educar y para sensibilizar al público en las maneras posibles de contraer la enfermedad. Esto está en un pedacito para parar separarse de la enfermedad y para desalentar actitudes discriminatorias hacia pacientes de HIV/AIDS pero la discriminación todavía existe y todavía hay mucho que se hará para eliminarlo o para suprimir totalmente.
a) Actitudes discriminatorias que cambian a través de los parlamentos: el remedio legal más eficaz es la promulgación de la legislación contra discriminatoria del general que prohíbe la distinción injusta e inaplicable que es hecha en los argumentos especificados contra el PLWHA. Los talleres se han sostenido en algunos países para levantar el conocimiento de la edición de HIV/AIDS y para sensibilizar a políticos a las ediciones del derecho humano.
Estos talleres han sido acertados en crear un clima no de la discriminación y franqueza en el parlamento. Está en tales talleres que los participantes que viven con los miembros o los amigos de la familia que son VIH infectado puedan público reconocer su relación con estas personas infectadas. Éstos pueden cambiar las actitudes discriminatorias de otros participantes y pavimentar así la manera para el paso fácil a través de los parlamentos de leyes contra discriminatorios. En el parlamento de algunos países han creado a comisión para no la discriminación contra personas infectadas VIH mientras que otros cuerpos parlamentarios tienen trabajo con la otra organización del SIDA para luchar este la discriminación. La legislatura, a fin de luchar la discriminación contra PLWHA podría permitir la “acción afirmativa” por ejemplo una comunidad que el grupo puede dar preferencia al empleo a la gente positiva del VIH porque son miembros de una clase protegida que se ha sujetado a la discriminación general.
Evidentemente, los estándares de proporcionar la discriminación se deben tratar por la legislación o el ejemplo, la legislatura podría hacer la inhabilidad solamente una del SIDA del VIH de varias razones de hacer un acto discriminatorio; este solo debe ser suficiente moler la convicción en un caso instituido en contra del los individuos, corporación, o cuerpo para discriminar contra ésos que vive con HIV/AIDS.
La legislatura podría también decretar los leyes, que permiten una conexión ocasional más bien que la prueba de la conducta entre la conducta y el HIV/AIDS/la inhabilidad discriminatorios a ser un requisito a encontró una curación.
El parlamento podría también asegurar la creación de los procedimientos administrativos eficaces para alojar quejas y asegurar la existencia de la independiente informó y las avenidas rápidas para la compensación tal como comisión de los derechos humanos cuál tiene procedimientos especiales para rápidamente seguir cajas donde están terminal enfermedad los complainants. Algunas de estas quejas manejadas correctamente desalentarán la discriminación. Los remedios reconocen por el parlamento deben existir para la discriminación systemic por los patrones de las compañías especialmente más bien que el caso simple de los individuos, que han limitado el uso.
Empleo, siendo una área principal donde están lugar las actitudes discriminatorias común contra ésas que viven con HIV/AIDS, equipo obligatorio que indica que la persona empleó si él puede realizar los requisitos inherentes del trabajo.
b) Actitud discriminatoria que cambia a través de la judicatura: En algunos países, la judicatura se ha apuntado como instrumento en cambiar las actitudes discriminatorias asociadas a HIV/AIDS. Los talleres se han organizado para sensibilizar a jueces y para crear el conocimiento de las ediciones de HIV/AIDS que pueden emerger en las cortes e.g. acción instituida por PLWHA o en su favor contra individuos o la cooperación para las actitudes discriminatorias hacia ellas.
c) Actitudes discriminatorias que cambian por los estados: el estado puede también cambiar actitudes discriminatorias contra la gente que vive con HIV/AIDS con la educación, el entrenamiento, y los medios. El estado, usando una amplia gama de medios tales como películas, la televisión, la radio, el etc podría junto con entidades apropiadas tales como grupos de los medios, NGO, dispositivo y la programación distribuida para promover y para mantener al respecto por la derecha y la dignidad de la gente con HIV/AIDS y a miembros del grupo vulnerable tales programas debe tener como objetivo el disipar de mitos y de asunciones, sobre vivir con HIV/AIDS representándolo como amigos, parientes, colegas, vecinos y socios. Tal valor debe también reforzar el reaseguro referente a los modos de la transmisión del virus y de la seguridad del contacto social diario.
Los efectos negativos de actitudes de la discriminación y del stigmatization asociados a HIV/AIDS no pueden ser excedente acentuado. La gente que vive con el virus del VIH puede vivir las vidas razonablemente largas y productivas, particularmente con avance reciente en el tratamiento antiretroviral.
La tentativa de excluir prematuramente a la gente que vive con el virus de la mano de obra es injusta y una abertura de derechos humanos. Son también potencialmente poco económicos si pueden excluir arbitrariamente a la persona más cualificada de una posición.
Estas actitudes discriminatorias deben ser desalentadas y ser cambiadas. Ésos que viven con el virus necesitan ser y sensación protegida contra el stigmatization y la discriminación por sus comunidades. Para que estas medidas protegidas sean puestas en ejecución y el fieltro deseado del impacto, ellas necesidad los esfuerzos concertados no sólo del estado solamente, o el parlamento, pero todos en el sector privado y público de promover la distribución amplia y en curso de los programas creativos de la educación, del entrenamiento y de los medios diseñan explícitamente cambiar actitudes de la discriminación y del stigmatization contra HIV/AIDS a entender y a la aceptación.
El protector del secreto
del secreto se dibuja de la amplia base aceptó universal principio de una persona correcto a la aislamiento. Una derecha que se aprueba judicial como protector de la apropiación injustificable de una su personalidad, la publicación de unas asuntos privados con los cuales el público no tiene ninguna preocupación legítima. Éste un correcto legal independiente del individuo y su violación constituye un agravio. Decano Prosser, en su trabajo sobre del agravio, distinguió cuatro categorías de los agravios abrazados dentro de las derechas de la aislamiento, secreto que era uno de tales. Una derecha que se prediga sobre la garantía constitucional de la vida, libertad y la búsqueda de la inspiración de dibujo de la felicidad del declaración universal de los derechos humanos, que mantienen las derechas inalienables y sagradas de la persona, puede ser dicho que cuando la ley garantiza a una la derecha de gozar de su vida, un regalo a él algo más que apenas la derecha de respirar. La libertad que él conduce de derecho natural y reconoce por las constituciones nacionales incluye la derecha de vivir mientras que una elige siempre y cuando esa opción no interfiere con la derecha de la otra o del público. Es dentro de este alcohol que los leyes internacionales según lo engarzado en el declaración universal de derechos humanos garantizan la derecha a la aislamiento con la ley como el perro guardián. El secreto sin embargo se distingue de las todas las otras derechas de la aislamiento en el, se presenta de la relación fiduciaria de las cuales fluye los accesos revelados en una plataforma de la confianza, confianza y la buena fe y la sinceridad escrupulosas que requiere.
La relación paciente del médico confidencial baja dentro de esta categoría. El secreto permite un intercambio de la información íntimo que facilita cuidado apropiado y diagnosis correcta. El deber del médico constituye un protector protector contra la intrusión indeseada de otras. Con el advenimiento del virus del VIH, la mayoría de los hospitales manteniendo fuertemente el principio del secreto han desarrollado las contraseñas que se pueden interpretar solamente por los profesionales médicos ellos mismos para indicar el virus. Infact the health care provider is set to own the medical records but the patient owns the information with the records.
The principle of confidentiality is not absolute Ethical, legal and statutory obligations may permit physicians to disclose information when legally requested by the court or for the purpose of legal investigations or referred to him in his capacity as a medical expert. At a minimum health care professionals have an ethical duty to inform patients prior to testing, as well as upon receipt of result that the, information obtained may have familiar implications. A person tested positive with the HIV virus automatically puts the wife/husband at risk. In such case exceptional disclosures are permissible when: -
 Attempts to encourage disclosure on the part of patients have failed
 The harm is highly likely to occur and if serious, imminent and foreseeable.
 The “at risk” relatives are identifiable and
 The disease is preventable

WOMEN’S VULNERABILITY TO HIV/AIDS IN CAMEROON
Of the 18million people living in Cameroon, about 52% are girls and women belonging to diverse cultures and religions. These women or girls represent a fascinating weave of modernity and tradition, progress and backwardness. A common stand that runs through this weaves is that of inequality between the privilege and not so privilege, between urban and rural, between men and women. The woman however have continued to make strides towards equality with men; whenever they are educated able to generate income and enjoy equal protection under the law, they are in a position to have some control over their economic, social and personal life. However, these goals are still remote for millions of Cameroonians who are vulnerable to HIV infections. This vulnerability is no doubt due to the number of factors
a) Biological Vulnerability; this applies generally to all women, the Cameroonian women inclusive. It is gathered from several sources that the risk of being infected with HIV as with other transmissible diseases during unprotected sexual intercourse, is as much as two to four times higher for women than men. This is because, as compared to men, women have a larger mucosal surface exposed during intercourse to their partner’s secretion. Since semen that is infected contains a higher concentration of the virus than a woman’s sexual secretions, this makes male to female transmission more efficient than female to male. In young girls their physiological immune cervix and scant secretion puts up fewer barriers to HIV so that they are at even greater biological risk. Tearing and bleeding during sexual intercourse whether from rough sex, rape, or prior genital mutilation (female circumcision), multiplies the risk of HIV infections in women. Anal intercourse practiced by some women as a means of preserving virginity or avoiding risk of pregnancy, often tears the delicate tissue and affords easy entry of the virus.
Another biological factor of great importance is an untreated sexually transmitted infection (STI)
in either partner, which multiplies the risk of HIV transmission by up to 10-fold.
Women are also epidemically vulnerable through blood transfusion during pregnancy or child birth.
b) Social vulnerability; social vulnerability despite constitutional and legislative guarantees, the unequal states of women is greatly manifested in almost all social aspects. For most Cameroonian women, their social standing and interaction in a male dominated society greatly contributed to the deadly diseases. The situation is such that most men expect sex with any woman who receives their support resulting in sexual subordination thus creating a very unhealthy atmosphere for AIDS prevention .Social attitudes are such that initiative and decision making in sex is left to the dominants males. Thus most women have no skills to resist or say no to unwanted and unsafe sex. Another issue of concern is the growing demand for younger sex partners, the sugar daddy phenomenon where old men offer young girls gifts and huge sums of money in exchange for sex. In other instances sex is the “currency” for pass grades, jobs opportunities. The high rate of promiscuity and acceptable infidelity is dangerous fertile grounds for women’s vulnerability.
c) Economic Vulnerability: due to the economic situation and circumstances, women’s autonomy is crippled. Lacking economic resources of their own, most women are vulnerable because they depend on the on men for support. In almost all cases men expect sex with any woman who receives their supports. Being fearful of abandonment or violence on the part of their male partners, they have little or no control over how and when they have sex and when and hence over the risk of becoming infected with HIV. In some areas, women have several male partners who provide support for their children’s needs and other necessities. The drastic cut in salaries in the 90’s and the economic crisis having dealt most Cameroonians a blow, women’s dependence on men’s support drastically increased. Furthermore, women also face a double burden relative to the epidemic. They are not only more vulnerable than men to acquiring the infection, but they also bear the greatest responsibility in providing care to infected family members.
1) Cultural and Traditional Practices: most of the campaigns on the fight against HIV/AIDS have so far been focused on orthodox means such as multiple sex partners , sharing of needles, blood transfusion and congenial infection from an infected mother to an unborn child among others. Research have shown that rooted in people’s cultures and traditional practices in Cameroon as in other African countries, are practice that are more dangerous potentials means of spreading the dreaded Virus. Some of these practices involve skin cut, lesions, wife inheritance, and widowhood rights, tribal marks, body scarification, tattoos, blood letting and female circumcision as explain below.
 Scarification by native / traditional doctors; this practice is pervasive amongst most Cameroonian even the elites. People still secretly visit these native doctors for charms and native powers to induce diverse kinds of favors such as promotion, monetary rewards, and insurance against perceived enemies including witches and wizards. Most native doctors satisfy these discrete but pervasive wishes by scarifying their clients and applying substances believed to possess powers to produce the desired results. There is the practice of scarifying the face in most tribes leaving terrible and sometimes very frightful and embarrassing tribal marks. The truth is that the surgical knives, blades, broken bottles, or sharp edged stones often used by these native doctors and elders of these tribes are not sterilized and the same tools are used on as many clients as possible. In the course of these practices, there is inevitable blood transfusion, a channel of contracting the HIV virus
 Widowhood rites / Wife Inheritance: In many African countries and Cameroonian tribes, a widow is compelled to sleep with her brother-in-law, presumably to make her pure and free from the curse of being a widow or being revisited by the dead husband. It is nobody’s business to know if the woman or brother-in-law is HIV positive. In other cases, the late husband’s brother, cousin or other male relation not minding the health status of either parties inherit the widow. There is also the practice in some villages whereby elderly and most often single men without children marry younger women of child bearing age to bear children for them, with no regard to the health status of the man or the woman.
 Female circumcision:- Despite international efforts and national and official attempts to outlaw it, female circumcision is still practiced in some parts of Cameroon especially the South and North West Provinces. It is considered an important cultural practice, which curbs immoral behaviour and gives guidance to the initiates on important matters of life. In most cases, older women carryout the circumcision as it is the case with scarification, the same instruments are employed for several cases with no regard to the health risks involved. Any campaign against AIDS that does not consider these cultural practices is not likely to succeed. But the question is, can the people be removed from these ingrained practices? How far are we ready to change these practices?
 Prostitution:- It constitutes another setting in which women have little power to protect themselves from HIV. Most young girls involved in prostitution are ignorant of the risk of contracting the HIV virus. Sexual exploitation of young girls in Cameroon is the most pernicious form of child abuse. While for some women, prostitution is a choice, many turn to occasional or steady sex work as an alternative to fight poverty, exchanging sex for basic necessities of life for themselves and their children. Some of these women are either divorcees or widows who because of inequitable laws and customs have lost their property as well as their husband’s earning power. The situation of economically unstable and not too viable single mother is most alarming.
 No Female Control Preventive Methods:- The Cameroonian woman does not have a suitable barrier method available for HIV prevention. The much-talked about female condom is little known and not yet widely used. Those who have heard of it or seen it complain that usage is not easy at all for various reasons. The only widely available effective method to prevent the heterosexual transmission of HIV is the male condom. There are no counseling services in the rural communities. Even where they exist most women will not seek HIV related counseling, testing, treatment and support for fear of being identified or face discrimination in case of positive result.
 Ignorance:- Most Cameroonian women do not have access to formal education for varied reasons and despite the available facilities. They therefore have very little information about their own bodies and education about HIV/AIDS. There are quite a large number of women who haven’t heard anything yet about AIDS and they remain ignorant of its existence, not to talk of its prevention.
Haven exposed the dangers of some of our cultures and tradition; it is obvious that the situation calls for a remedy – the empowerment of the rural woman. The Cameroonian woman needs to be empowered to have greater access/ control over the rate of HIV infections. Suggestions for such empowerment include:-
a) Literacy and adult education programmes as an important first approach. Steps should be taken to ensure that all, if not; most women in the very remote and rural areas of Cameroon and Africa in particular have education and information in its simplest form about basic human rights and HIV/AIDS. Women should be taught and encourage to negotiate safer sex and to say “NO” and be able to resist unsafe sex.
b) Women should be exposed to more income generating projects to allow the more autonomy. An economically independent woman does not need to exchange sex for her basic needs.
c) More healthy, available and accessible counseling services should be provided for women.
d) A forum should be made available for women to come together to expose cultural taboos that are detrimental to women’s health.
e) Female – controlled and easy to use preventive methods should be developed.
f) There should also be policy changes, particularly specific anti-discriminatory provisions for greater protection of women’s rights and increase economic independence and legal status. This should include a greater political voice for women.

HIV/AIDS AND MEDICAL CARE
The universal declaration of Human Rights in its Article 25 (1), the Cameroon 1996 constitution and WHO charter in its article 1, states that it is an individual’s inalienable right to get medical care when he is sick. Right now, the human race is perplexed by the HIV epidemic which has no vaccine or cure. The testing for HIV virus should be voluntary. It is an individual’s right to refuse to go for testing but such refusal is morally wrong where medical institution may want to conduct this test for statistical purposes, the consent of the blood donor / patient should be sought. It will be a medical malpractice if a doctor or a health institution conducts an HIV test on anyone without his consent. It has been poorly argued that for statistical purposes patients may be screened without their knowledge. Such an argument is unfounded and is in violation of the right of the patient, since the health status of an individual is a personal matter. HIV/AIDS is not a contagious illness. We have already seen that HIV could be contracted through coming in contact with HIV contaminated blood, semen or breast milk through blood infusions, blood contact, sexual intercourse, sharing needles or syringe. Therefore a doctor or medical institution that isolates HIV/AIDS patients may be liaised for discrimination and causing additional emotional pain and suffering. Is being HIV positive patient not enough punishment?
One can even classify such isolation, as punitive if the patient has contagious HIV related diseases. Why would anyone punish an HIV/AIDS patient? It is an actionable tort when a patient is given HIV contaminated blood or treated with HIV unspecialized medical instruments.
Antiretroviral drugs can reduce the level of HIV in blood and also treat HIV related infections, but in Cameroon, many infected persons especially those in rural communities have no access to these ARV’s. It is estimated that in many developing countries and Africa in particular, four out of every five person visit traditional health practitioners and use traditional treatments. Traditional healers already treat large numbers of people living with HIV and AIDS. It is therefore important to look into this area of healthcare. It is also important to improve the approaches to working with traditional doctors, this can improve HIV prevention and care services while continuing to advocate for improved access to modern medicine and treatment.
To help the Cameroonian population in the rural areas and most developing countries at large, medical officers should come up with programmes to train traditional health practitioners on the necessity of sterilizing blades and other sharp objects they use in administering their treatment, so as to minimize the risk of HIV infection. Appropriate training encourages traditional health practitioners to replace harmful practices or myths about HIV with safer practices. They should discourage the practice of witchcraft by not classifying the AIDS symptoms as caused by witchcraft. These traditional healers should be encouraged to promote sexual abstinence among youths and fidelity within married adults. Such values often agree with traditional beliefs about the causes of sexually transmitted infections and other illnesses and it is now recognized that reduction in the number of sex partners is a powerful factor in reducing HIV transmission. To pass on proper training in handling HIV/ AIDS cases to our traditional healers, workshops and seminars should be organized by the Ministry of Public Health. As far as legal issues are concerned, traditional healers must be made to understand that accusing people of being responsible of one’s misfortune or illness or death through witchcraft without proof is a defamatory statement and could lead to criminal prosecution.
AIDS AND EMPLOYMENT
An HIV infected person has right as all human beings do, amongst them, the right to work. The universal declaration of Human Rights states that “Every person shall have the right and obligations to work”. AIDS is an issue of human rights and it is necessary to protect the right of working men and women living with the virus, these rights inter alia are access to productive and decent work, social security benefits, health care and the right to confidentiality. In Cameroon, HIV/AIDS infected persons have had their rights to work trampled upon by employers. Applications of job seekers have been rejected because of their HIV/AIDS status. Working men and women with HIV/AIDS have suffered all forms of discrimination at their job sites. Gaining access to employment is a major problem for HIV infected persons. A number of companies now require job seekers to pass an HIV/AIDS test before employment. Men and women including those with HIV/AIDS have the right to work in condition of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. One of an employee’s greatest nightmares begins when he is known or presumed to be HIV positive. He suffers all forms of discrimination. He is isolated by his colleagues. In the private sector, he may be passed over for promotion and is not taken into consideration for training programmes no matter how hard he may work. At worst, the employer dismisses him. When one looks at the discrimination going on in the world of work against HIV/AIDS person, one might fear that in the long run such persons will be completely kept out of work. However this might not be the case as there are some employers who are beginning to realize that these person’s rights as human beings must be respected. Nevertheless, such actions will not go a long way in protecting the rights of HIV/AIDS persons on the whole, as some of the important issues to be addressed by the proposed law that will be of help to people living with AIDS are:
 A person should not be discriminated against with regard to terms and conditions of employment because of his HIV status, if he is otherwise qualified.
 The law should prohibit an employer from inquiring about an employee or job applicant medical status. This law should also provide for reasonable accommodations to enable HIV/AIDS workers perform the essential function of a job, that is, flexible working hours, time off for doctors appointment etc. this law must also lay out the various remedies available for HIV/AIDS persons where their rights have been violated. It doesn’t suffice to lay out the rights.
HIV/AIDS AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
In many African countries and Cameroon included there is an experience of growth in HIV/AIDS and this is evidence and increasing in ages between 18 to 40 years. This age bracket is considered to be that when the woman is sexually active and of child bearing age. Women are one of the fastest growing populations being infected with HIV and the number of AIDS cases among women is increasing steadily each year. Because the time of infection to developing AIDS can be variably long, many of these women acquire HIV in their teens or as soon as they become sexually active. Women are more at risk to be infected as male to female transmission is estimated to be eight times more likely than female to male. This is so because HIV is more easily transmitted from men to women due to greater expose surface area in the female genital track. Women do not as yet wear the condom, therefore they are not capable of protecting themselves from HIV infections. They can therefore not rely on their own skills, attitudes and behaviors regarding condom use. They have to rely on their ability to convince their partner to use a condom. Gender, culture and power may be barriers to maintaining safer sex practices. Women are disproportionally represented among the poor and the less likely to have access to health care services. Most of them will have to struggle for daily survival and may have no concern about HIV infections when having sexual relations and the impact may be felt many years later. Like many people in committed relationships, women might find intimacy in their relationships to be more important than protection against HIV. Usually, unsafe sex may be linked to emotional, social and possibly financial dependence on men. Women are furthermore vulnerable to be infected with HIV because they are mostly passive partners in sexual relations and can not be heard to refuse sex to their husbands or partners even if infection is suspected. They are vulnerable and not in a position to avoid infection because they either do not receive preventive education or information or cannot act on it, and when infected are disempowered to cope with the impact. The woman’s subordinate status limits opportunities to be informed about HIV/AIDS making them more vulnerable to infections and impairing their ability to deal with possible consequences of infection which require care and support. Women some times can not negotiate safer sex or leave their partners because of social and legal norms and economic dependency norms that promote motherhood as the ideal form of self worth. This increases the vulnerability to HIV and constrains reproductive choices for HIV positive women. Double standard about chastity and fidelity means that many monogamously married women are powerless to avoid infection by their husband. For many women, many of their HIV diagnoses can carry with it the devastating assumptions that they can and will never have children. Many others receive their diagnoses while pregnant this is so because many women are not tested for HIV unless they become pregnant or ill. And some women infected with HIV may decide to have their babies while others chose to have a termination. The decision to terminate a pregnancy is very personal since the Cameroonian law allows for termination on grounds of ill health. This article is an attempt to look at the reproductive right of unborn child and to say that the woman infected with HIV can still become pregnant and have a baby. Being pregnant will not increase the chances of developing AIDS. Research has shown that pregnancy does not speed HIV disease progression. Yes, a woman with an HIV positive test result has a right to become pregnant. The unborn baby has a right to live not withstanding the fact that his mother is HIV positive and stands the risk of being infected with the virus. It has been scientifically proven that not all babies born to an infected mother will have the virus at the time of birth. All babies born to mothers with HIV are born with HIVanti bodies but babies who are not infected loose their anti bodies by the time they are 18 months old. There is a possibility of the decline in numbers of the perinatally infected infant. This is due to:
The implementation of new knowledge in perinatal HIV prevention and treatment for pregnant women with HIV infection. AZT is the most commonly used and approved therapy for preventing transmission from mother to child. Delivery by elective caesarean sections also reduces the risk of a baby becoming infected. It is usually best for a baby to be breast fed. However, if the mother has HIV, breastfeeding will increase the risk of her baby becoming infected. Therefore a mother with HIV may not have to breast feed as bottle feeding is a safer alternative. The reduction in HIV transmission from mother to infant with the use of anti HIV drugs has been a remarkable success story. This major advance can be shared if there is easy access to the necessary drugs, adequate prenatal care, improved nutrition and prevention of breast feeding by the mother. All pregnant women ought to benefit from the informed counseling of the potential risk and benefits of using an optional and potent anti HIV regimen during pregnancy and then be allowed to make their own decision, unfortunately, little is known about the long term effects of this compound to the child. Due to so many unanswered questions, any HIV positive woman who is pregnant or considering pregnancy should seek the care or an advice of a clinician with experience and or knowledge of the latest break through in HIV research, this ensure the best possible prenatal care and the best possible out come for both the mother and child.
WOMEN AND HIV/AIDS-APRAGMATIC APPROACH
The health and wellbeing of women every where is of great important in its own rights. It is also the key to the health and wellbeing of their, family, communities and societies .but every year, millions of women in developing countries die in pregnancy and /or child birth. HIV presents an enormous challenge to safe motherhood. In sub Saharan Africa, millions of pregnant women are HIV positive. Women with HIV are likely to have complication during pregnancy and/or delivery, or abortion. They are also more vulnerable to anemia, malaria, pneumonia and tuberculosis (TB)both HIV prevention and care is an essential part of safe motherhood maternity services could play a crucial role by improving for pregnant women with HIV/AIDS before, during and after pregnancy. Fewer resources will be needed if programs work together.
 The vulnerability element: while it is important for men’s own health, that they become more involved in HIV prevention and care, there are important benefits for women too. Some of this links to women’s heightened vulnerability to HIV infection others tie more closely to equality and equity in care. Women’s vulnerability to HIV transmission is particularly a matter of biology. because virginal tissues if fragile , particularly in younger women, during unprotected virginal intercourse, an HIV man is twice as likely , to transmit the virus to an uninfected woman as an HIV positive is to infect her male partner . Women also made vulnerable by men’s greater economics and social power and by unequal gender relations. It is men who generally decided when and with whom to have sex and whether to use condoms or not. This leaves women with little or no control over these exposure to the deadly Virus it is men too who are usually the perpetrators of sexual violence whether in war or civil unrest or within ongoing relationships. in 1999 during the follow-up to the Beijing Fourth World Conferences on women, the 43rd session of the United Nation Commission on the statues of women attention was drawn to the need to educate women and men particularly young people, with a view to promoting equal relationships between men and women and to encourage to accept their responsibilities in matters relating to sexuality, reproduction and child bearing.
 Prevention through sex: there are many ways preventing the sexual transmission of HIV between women and their partners these includes abstinence, mutual fidelity, sex that does not involve virginal or anal penetration and condom use. However most prevention massages are simplicity and not tailored to the complex, and often hidden reality of men’s relationships with women or other men National AIDS campaigns have promoted abstinence outside marriage and fidelity within it wit some success. However, abstinence for young men is difficult and a menu of risk reduction option needs to be offered. The consistence use of male and female and female condoms in virginal or and sex also protects HIV and STI’s. Condoms, however, are under used for a variety of reason. In casual or commercial sex, men’s condom use is more common than in marriage but still often inconsistent in a study that was conducted in Zimbabwe, some two years ago, men interviewed had sex with prostitutes on an average of seven times a month but only used Condoms in about half of those encounters. Studies in many other countires have confirmed that female condom is an alternatives which some men and women find more comfortable than the male version. Like the male condom the female version can also be used for anal intercourse. Female condoms are, however much more expensive and difficult to acquire and because they remain visible during intercourse they still require male consent. When condoms are not used the prevalence of unsafe sex before an outside marriage plus the lack of HIV testing, means that millions of couple around the world, do not know whether they are practicing safer sex or not. Except when the goal is contraception introducing condoms use in a regular relationship, can be difficult. One problem is the difficulty of acknowledging premarital or casual sex and discussing the possibility of infection. For couples who wish to have children, the challenged is compounded by the fact that condoms interfere with procreation. A great deal of HIV transmission occurs as a result.
 Reproductive rights and choices: all women, regardless of their HIV status have the rights to choice whether and when to have children a woman who knows she is HIV positive , needs information about the HIV related risk of pregnancy for her self and her baby and how they can be reduced. But she most still be free to make her own decisions about whether or not to have children and should be supported in her choice.
 Ensuring mother’s rights to be healthy: All women need care and advice to help them remain healthy during their pregnancy. Protect women from HIV. The only completely reliable way to stop mother to child transmission of HIV is to prevent young girls and women from becoming HIV positive.
 Promote safe sex: Even after becoming pregnant, women should continue to practice safe sex unless they are absolutely certain that their partner is not HIV positive. Continuing to use condoms will also prevent STI’s. Keeping to one sexual partner makes sex safe on the condition that the partner is faithful.
 Test for, and treat all infection: An essential part of care for a pregnant woman is to look for, ask about and treat any infection she might have, especially those who are HIV positive. It is difficult for many women to decide what to eat because of poverty, customs or their status-leaving them fewer choices. Education about which local foods are most nutritious and the importance of pregnant women being well fed need to be un going. Discourage smoking and the use of alcohol and other drugs. Smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and the use of some drugs and herbal remedies can harm the unborn child. HIV positive women need to be especially careful because anything that damages their health can lower C D 4 counts.
 Provide Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV: Many women knowing their HIV status will help them make decisions that reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to their babies. The counselor might be a health worker such as a mid wife or a nurse, or may be a lay person. Peer counselors such as people who are themselves HIV positive. Can be very valuable.
 Points for Action:
 Gender awareness: promote understanding of the way in which gender stereotypes and expectation affects women and men. Support works that enhance gender equality and equity. Encourage discussion about the way girls are brought up and are expected to behave.
 Sexual communication and Negotiations: Encourage women to talk about sex with their partners enhance women’s capacity to determine when, where, and whether to have sex or not. Enhance both men and women access to appropriate sources to information, counseling and support. Promote greater understanding and acceptance of HIV/AIDS.
 Support and Care: Help women in their role as mother and providers of care and support within the family and community at large.
HUMAN RIGHTS, HIV/AIDS AND THE WOMAN
At the dawn of a new century, we still look at the future dominated by the deadly disease, which just a few decades ago were totally unknown. It may be shocking to know that over 75% of those infected with HIV live in the developing world, to which Cameroon belong. In this section, we will be considering the AIDS pandemic and HIV and how it affects women and children and what we can do about it.
1. The physiology of the woman: The mere fact that one is a woman has been proven, to make that person more vulnerable to contracting AIDS. Studies have confirmed that there is greater transmissibility of HIV from male to female. It has been estimated through research that the woman’s risk of being infected by HIV is at least twice that of a man. This is largely due to their physiological make up which has an extensive area of mucous membrane through which the virus get into the vaginal and to the cervix. Younger women, especially teenagers even run a greater risk due to their immature cervix and relatively low vaginal mucous. Production which are suspected to prevent less of a hindrance to HIV.
2. Childhood Marriages: In Cameroon like most African countries, young girls are given out to marriage as early as twelve years or even sooner. A girl child find herself married to a man who has maybe two other wives or children older than herself. He therefore has been sexually active for much longer and it is quite possible that he is already infected with HIV and as such, the girl child is of a very disadvantaged and pitiful position because as soon as soon as she indulges in sexual intercourse with her supposed husband, she finds herself with HIV.
3. Reproductive Health of Women: The fact that women carry pregnancies and are very dedicated during this period, makes them more vulnerable to epidemic. With complicated pregnancies and the need for blood transmission, the possibility of being infected is greater.
4. Labour Migration: Labour migration has been known to facilitate the spread of the disease with the woman again as the victim. Labour migration usually separates couples and leads to the establishment of temporarily migrant communities which are usually dominated by single sex most often man. This usually creates a market for prostitution as such; men have the money and need sex, so they are ready to pay for it. The examples are alive in Cameroon as we notice that wherever there has been the construction of roads, involving expatriate companies, who are Caucasians, we find a sudden prevalence of (mulatto) children (half-cast) which goes to demonstrate the sexual involvement of these workers in the community. The presence of these children is evidence that intercourse was done with no precaution. These types of women are far more prone to being infected with HIV.
5. Gender Inequality: Women in developing countries especially Cameroon and Africa at large are economically disadvantaged due to poor education, early marriages and no skill training which render them mostly unemployed. They are therefore dependent on men economically, which limits their choice on matters relating to health and sexuality. Also, the woman’s low social status and cultural demands which compares her to be always submissive to the male in sexual relations, further hampers her from controlling her sex life, she can not be heard to insist on the use of condoms. Also, the marital system of Polygamy which is prevalent in our towns and villages has the women at a disadvantaged position, as the husband goes from wife to wife can be infected by one wayward wife and the other wives will automatically be infected.
6. Women’s Attitude towards AIDS: The attitude of the woman herself in Cameroon to the issue of AIDS is quite alarming and a cause for concern. A study carried out with some female sex workers in Kumba, in the South West Province of Cameroon reveals that they all agree that AIDS exist, but they are doing nothing to protect themselves especially when the men are ready to pay huge sums of money. Some say they never use a condom with such clients the reason is simple. To these women, AIDS is not a reality as of now. For them, AIDS is something that affects other people not them. In their complacency, they feel out of the reach of AIDS. This non challence with which women in Cameroon have embraced the issue of AIDS requires that something more has to be done and urgently to raise awareness especially among female sex workers, female student on the dangers of AIDS and the fact that it is real.
7. Human Rights and Health: The universal declaration of Human Rights of 1948 gave the rights to every one to have a living standard sufficient to ensure one and his family good health as concerns food, clothing, housing, medical care and social services. Also, article 12 of the International Covenant on Economy, Social and Cultural rights also recognizes the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. These documents are the best legal and ideological weapons for protecting legal rights and autonomy of an individual. It therefore follows that for women to enjoy their human rights relating to health the following must be done;
 There has to be a cultural change which gives the woman the status of a partner in her marriage and not sub servant to her husband even on issues which concerns her health.
 There also has to be a free medical screening of HIV in all of the main towns of Cameroon where women can be encouraged at no cost to check themselves. For now, the cost of an HIV screening in Cameroon is 500 FRS ($1). This is still expensive.
 Empowerment of the woman economically is very important as it will make her independent to be able to control her sexuality if women are empowered economically, (by giving them some skills and small short term loans), they will find satisfaction in life and not continue to sell sex for a living.
 There has been a steep drop in our standards of morality. Infact, nowadays, you find high school and university girls kept by more than one “sugar daddies” who finance their acquired high taste. We call on the judges to do more in this area of moral rectitude to the girls and women whom the men have taken advantage of their vulnerability.
HIV/AIDS AND SOCIAL CONTROL
In the absence of a vaccine or cure, prevention is the only feasible strategy for fighting the HIV epidemic. This message of prevention has been preached for years, yet the spread of HIV virus is still on the increase. The estimated cumulative number of HIV infections worldwide has risen. About 80 - 90% is thought to be sexually transmitted. So has the prevention work?
The rise of the infection in developing countries seems to indicate a massive defeat of international response. However, as nobody knows the real virulence of HIV, of what would have happened with no planned prevention intervention, the score has to remain open. It may be that all the information, education and communication efforts and all the blood testing and counseling have infact prevented a much more devastating explosion internationally or in a certain local/national areas. Even without knowing precisely the impact of prevention effort on the spread of global HIV, the challenge remains in the absence of a vaccine prevention interventions will remain the key to HIV control. The information, education and communication approaches in the fight against HIV have stressed the change of behaviour in relation to sexual attitudes. Those who are sexually active are advised to adopt sexual behaviors that reduce the risk of infection. The intervention to break the chain of transmission is seen basically as a technique to physical barriers like condoms, behavioral barriers like the abstinence or partner reduction, to stop the passage of the virus from one person to another. Youths have been identified as the target of the information and education campaigns. To stop these youths from behaving sexually as they did in the past became the prime task of the prevention of all sexual transmission. Although it is true that in the end, each individual who acts sexually has to take responsibility for his/her action, it is nevertheless obvious that sexual behavior and consumption patterns are strongly influenced by gender, social, cultural and economic factors. What a given society regards as sexually right or wrong as a taboo, deviant or normal is decided by the individual actor, and not by a set of norms and values to which different gratifications and sanctions are attached. For example, in Africa the social inequality between men and women is most responsible for the spread of the virus. Women, especially youths generally lack the social power to set the terms of sexual relationships. Social isolation and lack of education limits their knowledge of prevention behavior. Young girls and women living in poverty are often enticed or coerced to trade sex for support or social promotion and maybe forced into prostitution or polygamous marriages, why inheritance and societal promotion and concentration of the male infidelity are factors which have been identified as favourable in the transmission of the virus and the AIDS disease. As a result of these factors, which centres largely on the vulnerability of a woman to HIV infection, the complete success of the prevention method a major break through is conceptual thinking has been negative. Therefore, a shift in emphasis must take place from concentration on individual behavioral change to addressing the social and cultural structure of sexual relations and the individual as part of a community and a network. In doing so, the state or community should also enhance the ability of women to control their sexual relationships. Men and women should talk openly about sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. The state or community should also encourage men to take care of themselves, their partners and families. Our society is plagued with some men who are irresponsible in every conceivable way. They have a denial syndrome and they blame everything on the woman. Our society also suffers from some promiscuous married women in the rural and urban cities, who have discriminate extra marital sex as a routine. The state or community must provide good and quality education of sexual health; HIV/AIDS and life preserving skills for youths in and out of schools.

HIV/AIDS, un metodo completo
Automatically translated into Italian thanks to WorldLingo
IL AIDS
dell'INTRODUZIONE sta considerare come uno del devastare la malattia di tutte le volte. Il fatto che come alla data non ci è cura conosciuta, rende il virus più spaventoso che mai. La malattia è stata intorno per oltre 30 anni, ma è un wonder che qualche gente (gioventù in particolare) è udienza giusta a questo proposito. La relativa origine è più di tutta la conseguenza se è una punizione per il nostro immorality o che cosa è mai, non cessa di essere di importanza come se ora abbia come vittime, il più non colpevole cioè. bambini e gioventù.
La crisi del AIDS ora è la crisi dei p#si in via di sviluppo e del mondo, particolarmente Africa. La sindrome clinica è il nemico più grande a questa di malattia mortale e maggior parte devastating, poichè le persone infettate continuano a spargere l'infezione.
Il cambiamento del comportamento, l'accettazione da quelle infettata e la loro cooperazione è l'unico senso verso combattere la diffusione di questo virus.

PREMESSA
HIV/AIDS. È un'afflizione o un curse? Che cosa è questo virus che sta rovinando il havoc nella nostre società e menti scientifiche sconcertanti?
Ci siamo detti a dagli scienziati che il HIV corrispondesse al virus umano di Immunodeficiency ed il AIDS corrisponde alla sindrome immune acquistata di mancanza, che è l'ultima fase della malattia.
Se siete positive del HIV, siete infettati con il virus ed il vostro corpo reagisce producendo gli anticorpi del HIV. Se avete accesso ad un'analisi del sangue del HIV, mostrerà questi anti corpi.
Tuttavia una volta e l'individuo è infettato con il HIV, esso occorre un determinato tempo prima che l'organismo sviluppi gli anticorpi, quindi ci è un determinato “periodo della finestra„ quando una persona infettata verificherà la negazione. Questo periodo della finestra dura spesso fra quattro settimane e sei mesi, nei casi eccezionali ancora più lungamente. Durante questo periodo tutto il HIV persone infettate è contagioso.
La scienza medica ha indicato quella, alcune settimane dopo l'infezione; una minoranza delle persone infettate avverte alcuni sintomi acuti, spesso inosservati.
Là dopo, tutto il HIV ha infettato le persone avverte un periodo lungo senza malattie serie tipiche il cosiddetto periodo “asintomatico„. Questo periodo può durare parecchi anni.
Durante questo periodo asintomatico, le persone infettate possono trasmettere il virus ad altri. Dopo questo periodo, i primi sintomi della rottura per difesa immune sembrano sotto forma di determinate malattie che si sono riferite a come complesso riferito AIDS. La fase finale del AIDS “completo„ di malattia, segue quando una persona infettata HIV sviluppa uno o più delle infezioni “opportunistic„ ed o dei cancri. Le malattie sono denominate opportunistic perché approfittano dell'occasione presentata dal sistema immune indebolito. L'indebolimento progressivo dell'organismo provoca infine la morte del paziente. Nessuna cura (e nessuna vaccinazione contro) delle infezioni di HIV o del AIDS ancora è stata scoperta.
Le droghe gradiscono Efavirenz (EFV), Delavirdine (DLV), Nevirapine (NVP), AZT/3TC (Combivir), AZT/3TC/ABC (Trizivir), Zidovudine (AZT) e Didanosine (DDI) una volta usato in associazione o con l'altro farmaco può trattare o migliorare lo stato e la qualità di vita medici della persona infettata.
Queste droghe funzionano abbassando la quantità di HIV nell'anima (carico virale) ed aumentano il numero di cellule del linfocita CD4, un tipo di cellula immune nell'anima. Gli scienziati li hanno anche detto a che il HIV possa essere trasmesso attraverso
 Avendo sesso non protetto con qualcuno che sia positive del HIV. Circa 80 - 90 per cento delle infezioni si pensano per essere trasmessi sessualmente.
 Ripartendo le siringhe ed iniettando apparecchiatura che non è stata sterilizzata correttamente.
 Contaminando apparecchiatura medica che correttamente non sono stati sterilizzati o non usato stati sulla gente.
 Essendo dando le trasmissioni di anima che sono infettate con il HIV.
 Inseminazione erogatrice con semen infettato HIV.
 Trasmissione verticale del HIV dalla madre al bambino durante la gravidanza, la nascita del bambino o l'allattamento al seno. HIV/AIDS è su un rampage dentro deve p#si in via di sviluppo ed il Cameroon in particolare. Ha ucciso molti e sta uccidendo la generazione youthful ed inventiva di questo mondo.
L'Africa ora è una zona endemica che una può paragonare ad una zona di guerra. Nessuno è libero - siete una vittima del virus o una vittima di perdita del parente, vicini, amico o una conoscenza esatta dal virus. Troviamo le vittime che sono state presentate di lavoro per i motivi di salute o le alte fatture mediche. Nessuno pronuncia il nome temuto del virus come la causa reale del licenziamento. È bisbigliato soltanto. Il timore ha afferrato i cuori degli uomini e la rabbia ha consumato alcuni di coloro che è stato positive dichiarato del HIV. Hanno unito le forze con il virus del monster per infettare altretanta gente non colpevole unsuspecting prima che morissero. Il tasso di prevalenza (7.2) di HIV/AIDS nel Cameroon ha stimolato uno a scrivere su HIV/AIDS, su sviluppo ecc. di diritti dell'uomo. in modo da per sensibilizzare le gioventù del Cameroon e di là e portare alle edizioni chiare a che le vittime del virus, dei medici medici e delle istituzioni (sia pubblico che riservato) possono essere affrontate. Poiché HIV/AIDS è una nuova malattia, le leggi del Cameroon non riflettono la conoscenza medica corrente o alcuna dei problemi socio-legali che si sono sviluppati come conseguenza di HIV/AIDS, ecc. Poiché siamo comunicazione dei diritti dell'uomo e la legge rispetto alle vittime di HIV/AIDS, è necessario da conoscere che diritti dell'uomo e la legge è
I diritti dell'uomo possono essere definiscono come regole che sono uguali ed inalienabile e è accerta la dignità se la razza umana. Queste regole sono il fondamento della libertà; giustizia e pace nel mondo accertano gli esseri umani godono la libertà di discorso e di credenza e la libertà di timore e desiderano.
L'arte 25 (1) della dichiarazione universale dei diritti dell'uomo “stipula che ogni ha i diritti ad un livello of vivere sufficiente per salute e benessere di sè e la sua famiglia, compresi alimento, vestiti, alloggiamento e cura medica e servizi sociali necessari e la destra a sicurezza in caso di disoccupazione, la malattia, l'inabilità, il widowhood e mancanza di vecchiaia e o altra di vita nelle circostanze oltre il suo controllo. Per quanto riguarda il suddetto è essenziale che i diritti dell'uomo siano protetti dalla norma di legge, se l'uomo non deve essere costretto per fare ricorso, come ultimo ricorso, alla ribellione contro la tirannia ed il oppression.

LA PROTEZIONE DEI PAZIENTI di HIV/AIDS CONTRO distinzione
di DISTINZIONE contro quelle che vivono con HIV/AIDS è posto comune nella nostra società. È uno degli abusi più significativi di diritti dell'uomo nella zona di HIV/AIDS. Impedisce la partecipazione e l'integrazione complete della gente che vive con HIV/Aids nella Comunità.
La distinzione può uno essere diretta o indiretta. La distinzione diretta accade dove una persona tratta favorevole un altro di meno che una terza persona sarebbe stata trattata nelle circostanze paragonabili.
La distinzione indiretta d'altra parte accade dove i termini o il requisito irragionevoli, quale il HIV obbligatorio che esamina, sono applicati con una proporzione elevata sostanzialmente della persona di una condizione differente, deve potere soddisfare a che le persone della stessa condizione come la persona che sostiene essere discriminato contro.
Le zone di distinzione includono l'unione, l'occupazione, la formazione, il trattamento medico, la sistemazione, l'immigrazione/emigrazione e parecchi altre.
Dovrebbe essere notato che il HIV non è trasmesso con indifferenza. Un esempio della trasmissione casuale è infezione della gocciolina, che si presenta con lo starnuto, la tosse o la compartecipazione degli utensili.
La distinzione dovrebbe quindi essere proibita contro le persone con condizione percepita o ritenuta sospetto reale del HIV ed il rimedio legale più efficace è la promulgazione di legislazione generale di distinzione che proibisce gli esseri irrilevanti ingiusti di distinzione fatti sulla terra di HIV/AIDS.
Dovrebbe essere notato che nel decidere di porre fine alla distinzione per tali motivi, dichiara sono obbligati a proteggere gli individui dai servizi pubblici bye di distinzione non solo, ma anche il settore privato e gli individui privati nelle attività pubbliche.
La riduzione del pregiudizio contro PLWHA è importante e pratica poichè rimuove le barriere alla diagnosi precoce ed al trattamento. Gli atteggiamenti discriminatori possono quindi essere cambiati promulgando le leggi anti-discriminatorie e protettive nel Parlamento, through istruzione, formazione ed i mezzi ed accertando la procedura amministrativa efficace per l'alloggio dei reclami contro tali atteggiamenti.
Nel Cameroon la distinzione e lo stigmatization contro la gente che vive con HIV/AIDS è molto comuni. Il governo attraverso i relativi personali medico-sanitari, i NGOs ed alcuni corpi riservati ha con le conferenze ed i programmi di mezzi provati per istruire e sensibilizzare il pubblico sui sensi possibili di contrarre la malattia. Ciò è in una punta per arrestare la diffusione della malattia e per scoraggiare gli atteggiamenti discriminatori nei confronti dei pazienti di HIV/AIDS ma la distinzione ancora esiste e ci è ancora molto da fare per eliminarlo o sradicare completamente.
a) Atteggiamenti discriminatori cambianti attraverso i Parlamento: il rimedio legale più efficace è la promulgazione di legislazione anti discriminatoria del General che proibisce la distinzione ingiusta ed irrilevante che è fatta per i motivi specificati contro il PLWHA. Le officine sono state tenute in alcuni paesi per sollevare la consapevolezza dell'edizione di HIV/AIDS e per sensibilizzare i politici alle edizioni di diritto dell'uomo.
Queste officine sono riuscite in la generazione un clima non di distinzione e dell'apertura nel Parlamento. È a tali officine che i partecipanti che vivono con i membri o gli amici della famiglia che sono HIV infettato possono pubblicamente riconoscere il loro rapporto con queste persone infettate. Questi possono cambiare gli atteggiamenti discriminatori di altri partecipanti ed aprire così la strada per il passaggio facile attraverso i Parlamento delle leggi anti discriminatorie. Nel Parlamento di alcuni paesi hanno generato una commissione per non distinzione contro le persone infettate HIV mentre altri corpi parlamentari hanno lavoro con l'altra organizzazione del AIDS per combattere questo la distinzione. La legislatura, allo scopo di combattere la distinzione contro PLWHA potrebbe permettere “l'azione affermativa„ per esempio una Comunità che il gruppo può dare la preferenza ad occupazione alla gente positiva del HIV perché sono membri di un codice categoria protetto che è stato sottoposto a distinzione generale.
Evidentemente, i campioni di fornire la distinzione dovrebbero essere indirizzati dalla legislazione o l'esempio, la legislatura potrebbe fare l'inabilità soltanto una del AIDS del HIV/di parecchi motivi per fare un atto discriminatorio; questo solo dovrebbe essere sufficiente per macinare la convinzione in un argomento istituito contro individui, società, o corpo per discriminare contro quelli che vive con HIV/AIDS.
La legislatura potrebbe anche promulgare le leggi, che consentono un collegamento casuale piuttosto che la prova di comportamento fra il comportamento e il HIV/AIDS/inabilità discriminatori da essere un requisito a ha trovato una cura.
Il Parlamento potrebbe anche accertare la creazione delle procedure amministrative efficaci per presentare i reclami ed accertare l'esistenza del independent ha informato e viali rapidi per riparazione quale la commissione di diritti dell'uomo quale hanno procedure speciali per velocemente rintracciare le casse in cui i complainants è alla fine ill. Alcuni di questi reclami maneggiati correttamente scoraggeranno la distinzione. I rimedi riconoscono dal Parlamento dovrebbero esistere per distinzione sistematica dai datori di lavoro delle aziende particolarmente piuttosto che il caso semplice degli individui, che hanno limitato l'applicazione.
Occupazione, essendo una zona principale dove gli atteggiamenti discriminatori sono posto comune contro quelli che vivono con HIV/AIDS, apparecchiatura obbligatoria che dichiara che la persona impiegata se può effettuare i requisiti inerenti del lavoro.
b) Atteggiamento discriminatorio cambiante attraverso l'ordinamento giudiziario: In alcuni paesi, l'ordinamento giudiziario è stato designato come strumento nel cambiare gli atteggiamenti discriminatori connessi con HIV/AIDS. I seminari sono stati organizzati per sensibilizzare i giudici e generare la consapevolezza delle edizioni di HIV/AIDS che possono emergere nelle corti per esempio. azione istituita da PLWHA o a loro favore contro gli individui o a cooperazione per gli atteggiamenti discriminatori nei confronti di loro.
c) Cambiare gli atteggiamenti discriminatori dal dichiara: il dichiarare può anche cambiare gli atteggiamenti discriminatori contro la gente che vive con HIV/AIDS con l'istruzione, la formazione ed i mezzi. Il dichiarare, usando una vasta gamma di mezzi quali le pellicole, la televisione, la radio, ecc potrebbe insieme alle entità adatte quali i gruppi di mezzi, il NGO, dispositivo e la programmazione distribuita per promuovere e sostenere il rispetto per la destra e la dignità della gente con HIV/AIDS ed i membri del gruppo vulnerabile tali programmi dovrebbe puntare su dissipare i miti ed i presupposti, circa vivere con HIV/AIDS descrivendoli come gli amici, i parenti, i colleghe, i vicini e soci. Tale coraggio dovrebbe anche rinforzare la riassicurazione riguardo ai modi della trasmissione del virus e della sicurezza del contatto sociale giornaliere.
Gli effetti negativi degli atteggiamenti di distinzione e dello stigmatization si sono associati con HIV/AIDS non possono essere eccedenza data risalto a. La gente che vive con il virus del HIV può vivere vite ragionevolmente lunghe e produttive, specialmente con avanzamento recente nel trattamento antiretroviral.
Il tentativo prematuramente di escludere la gente che vive con il virus dalla mano d'opera è ingiusto e una frattura dei diritti dell'uomo. Sono inoltre potenzialmente poco economici se possono escludere arbitrariamente la persona qualificata da una posizione.
Questi atteggiamenti acuti devono essere scoraggiati e cambiati. Quelli che vivono con il virus devono essere e tatto protetto dallo stigmatization e dalla distinzione dalle loro Comunità. Affinchè queste misure protette siano effettuati ed il feltro voluto di effetto, esso bisogno gli sforzi concordati non solo del dichiarare da solo, o il Parlamento, ma ognuno sia nel settore privato che pubblico promuovere la distribuzione larga e continua dei programmi creativi di istruzione, di formazione e di mezzi progettano esplicitamente cambiare gli atteggiamenti di distinzione e dello stigmatization contro HIV/AIDS capire ed a accettazione.
Lo schermo di riservatezza
di riservatezza è estratto dalla vasta base universalmente ha accettato il principio di una persona è di destra alla segretezza. Una destra che è approvata giudiziario come schermo dall'appropriazione ingiustificata della sua personalità, il divulg di un affari riservati con cui il pubblico non ha legittima preoccupazione. Ciò è una destra legale indipendente dell'individuo e la relativa violazione costituisce un tort. Il decano Prosser, nel suo lavoro sul tort, ha distinto quattro categorie di torts abbracciati all'interno dei diritti della segretezza, riservatezza che è uno di tali. Una destra che è prevista sulla garanzia costituzionale di vita, la libertà ed inseguimento di ispirazione di disegno di felicità dalla dichiarazione universale dei diritti dell'uomo, che sostengono i diritti inalienabili e sacred della persona, può dirsi che quando la legge garantisce ad una la destra godere la sua vita, un regalo a lui qualcosa più appena la destra respirare. La libertà che guida da legge naturale e riconosce dalle costituzioni nazionali include la destra vivere mentre una sceglie a condizione che quella scelta non interferisca con la destra delle un altro o del pubblico. È all'interno di questo spirito che le leggi internazionali come incastonate nella dichiarazione universale dei diritti dell'uomo garantisce la destra alla segretezza con la legge come il cane da guardia. La riservatezza tuttavia si distingue da tutti i altri diritti della segretezza in quanto, risulta dal rapporto fiduciario da cui fluisce rilevazioni rivelarici su una piattaforma di fiducia, riservatezza e la buona fede e la sincerità scrupulous che richiede.
Il rapporto paziente del medico confidenziale fa parte di questa categoria. La riservatezza permette uno scambio di informazioni intimo che facilita la cura adatta e la diagnosi corretta. Il dovere del medico costituisce uno schermo protettivo contro l'intrusione indesiderabile da altre. Con l'avvenimento del virus del HIV, la maggior parte dei ospedali sostenente fortemente il principio di riservatezza hanno sviluppato le parole d'accesso che possono essere interpretate soltanto dai professionisti medici essi stessi per indicare il virus. Infact the health care provider is set to own the medical records but the patient owns the information with the records.
The principle of confidentiality is not absolute Ethical, legal and statutory obligations may permit physicians to disclose information when legally requested by the court or for the purpose of legal investigations or referred to him in his capacity as a medical expert. At a minimum health care professionals have an ethical duty to inform patients prior to testing, as well as upon receipt of result that the, information obtained may have familiar implications. A person tested positive with the HIV virus automatically puts the wife/husband at risk. In such case exceptional disclosures are permissible when: -
 Attempts to encourage disclosure on the part of patients have failed
 The harm is highly likely to occur and if serious, imminent and foreseeable.
 The “at risk” relatives are identifiable and
 The disease is preventable

WOMEN’S VULNERABILITY TO HIV/AIDS IN CAMEROON
Of the 18million people living in Cameroon, about 52% are girls and women belonging to diverse cultures and religions. These women or girls represent a fascinating weave of modernity and tradition, progress and backwardness. A common stand that runs through this weaves is that of inequality between the privilege and not so privilege, between urban and rural, between men and women. The woman however have continued to make strides towards equality with men; whenever they are educated able to generate income and enjoy equal protection under the law, they are in a position to have some control over their economic, social and personal life. However, these goals are still remote for millions of Cameroonians who are vulnerable to HIV infections. This vulnerability is no doubt due to the number of factors
a) Biological Vulnerability; this applies generally to all women, the Cameroonian women inclusive. It is gathered from several sources that the risk of being infected with HIV as with other transmissible diseases during unprotected sexual intercourse, is as much as two to four times higher for women than men. This is because, as compared to men, women have a larger mucosal surface exposed during intercourse to their partner’s secretion. Since semen that is infected contains a higher concentration of the virus than a woman’s sexual secretions, this makes male to female transmission more efficient than female to male. In young girls their physiological immune cervix and scant secretion puts up fewer barriers to HIV so that they are at even greater biological risk. Tearing and bleeding during sexual intercourse whether from rough sex, rape, or prior genital mutilation (female circumcision), multiplies the risk of HIV infections in women. Anal intercourse practiced by some women as a means of preserving virginity or avoiding risk of pregnancy, often tears the delicate tissue and affords easy entry of the virus.
Another biological factor of great importance is an untreated sexually transmitted infection (STI)
in either partner, which multiplies the risk of HIV transmission by up to 10-fold.
Women are also epidemically vulnerable through blood transfusion during pregnancy or child birth.
b) Social vulnerability; social vulnerability despite constitutional and legislative guarantees, the unequal states of women is greatly manifested in almost all social aspects. For most Cameroonian women, their social standing and interaction in a male dominated society greatly contributed to the deadly diseases. The situation is such that most men expect sex with any woman who receives their support resulting in sexual subordination thus creating a very unhealthy atmosphere for AIDS prevention .Social attitudes are such that initiative and decision making in sex is left to the dominants males. Thus most women have no skills to resist or say no to unwanted and unsafe sex. Another issue of concern is the growing demand for younger sex partners, the sugar daddy phenomenon where old men offer young girls gifts and huge sums of money in exchange for sex. In other instances sex is the “currency” for pass grades, jobs opportunities. The high rate of promiscuity and acceptable infidelity is dangerous fertile grounds for women’s vulnerability.
c) Economic Vulnerability: due to the economic situation and circumstances, women’s autonomy is crippled. Lacking economic resources of their own, most women are vulnerable because they depend on the on men for support. In almost all cases men expect sex with any woman who receives their supports. Being fearful of abandonment or violence on the part of their male partners, they have little or no control over how and when they have sex and when and hence over the risk of becoming infected with HIV. In some areas, women have several male partners who provide support for their children’s needs and other necessities. The drastic cut in salaries in the 90’s and the economic crisis having dealt most Cameroonians a blow, women’s dependence on men’s support drastically increased. Furthermore, women also face a double burden relative to the epidemic. They are not only more vulnerable than men to acquiring the infection, but they also bear the greatest responsibility in providing care to infected family members.
1) Cultural and Traditional Practices: most of the campaigns on the fight against HIV/AIDS have so far been focused on orthodox means such as multiple sex partners , sharing of needles, blood transfusion and congenial infection from an infected mother to an unborn child among others. Research have shown that rooted in people’s cultures and traditional practices in Cameroon as in other African countries, are practice that are more dangerous potentials means of spreading the dreaded Virus. Some of these practices involve skin cut, lesions, wife inheritance, and widowhood rights, tribal marks, body scarification, tattoos, blood letting and female circumcision as explain below.
 Scarification by native / traditional doctors; this practice is pervasive amongst most Cameroonian even the elites. People still secretly visit these native doctors for charms and native powers to induce diverse kinds of favors such as promotion, monetary rewards, and insurance against perceived enemies including witches and wizards. Most native doctors satisfy these discrete but pervasive wishes by scarifying their clients and applying substances believed to possess powers to produce the desired results. There is the practice of scarifying the face in most tribes leaving terrible and sometimes very frightful and embarrassing tribal marks. The truth is that the surgical knives, blades, broken bottles, or sharp edged stones often used by these native doctors and elders of these tribes are not sterilized and the same tools are used on as many clients as possible. In the course of these practices, there is inevitable blood transfusion, a channel of contracting the HIV virus
 Widowhood rites / Wife Inheritance: In many African countries and Cameroonian tribes, a widow is compelled to sleep with her brother-in-law, presumably to make her pure and free from the curse of being a widow or being revisited by the dead husband. It is nobody’s business to know if the woman or brother-in-law is HIV positive. In other cases, the late husband’s brother, cousin or other male relation not minding the health status of either parties inherit the widow. There is also the practice in some villages whereby elderly and most often single men without children marry younger women of child bearing age to bear children for them, with no regard to the health status of the man or the woman.
 Female circumcision:- Despite international efforts and national and official attempts to outlaw it, female circumcision is still practiced in some parts of Cameroon especially the South and North West Provinces. It is considered an important cultural practice, which curbs immoral behaviour and gives guidance to the initiates on important matters of life. In most cases, older women carryout the circumcision as it is the case with scarification, the same instruments are employed for several cases with no regard to the health risks involved. Any campaign against AIDS that does not consider these cultural practices is not likely to succeed. But the question is, can the people be removed from these ingrained practices? How far are we ready to change these practices?
 Prostitution:- It constitutes another setting in which women have little power to protect themselves from HIV. Most young girls involved in prostitution are ignorant of the risk of contracting the HIV virus. Sexual exploitation of young girls in Cameroon is the most pernicious form of child abuse. While for some women, prostitution is a choice, many turn to occasional or steady sex work as an alternative to fight poverty, exchanging sex for basic necessities of life for themselves and their children. Some of these women are either divorcees or widows who because of inequitable laws and customs have lost their property as well as their husband’s earning power. The situation of economically unstable and not too viable single mother is most alarming.
 No Female Control Preventive Methods:- The Cameroonian woman does not have a suitable barrier method available for HIV prevention. The much-talked about female condom is little known and not yet widely used. Those who have heard of it or seen it complain that usage is not easy at all for various reasons. The only widely available effective method to prevent the heterosexual transmission of HIV is the male condom. There are no counseling services in the rural communities. Even where they exist most women will not seek HIV related counseling, testing, treatment and support for fear of being identified or face discrimination in case of positive result.
 Ignorance:- Most Cameroonian women do not have access to formal education for varied reasons and despite the available facilities. They therefore have very little information about their own bodies and education about HIV/AIDS. There are quite a large number of women who haven’t heard anything yet about AIDS and they remain ignorant of its existence, not to talk of its prevention.
Haven exposed the dangers of some of our cultures and tradition; it is obvious that the situation calls for a remedy – the empowerment of the rural woman. The Cameroonian woman needs to be empowered to have greater access/ control over the rate of HIV infections. Suggestions for such empowerment include:-
a) Literacy and adult education programmes as an important first approach. Steps should be taken to ensure that all, if not; most women in the very remote and rural areas of Cameroon and Africa in particular have education and information in its simplest form about basic human rights and HIV/AIDS. Women should be taught and encourage to negotiate safer sex and to say “NO” and be able to resist unsafe sex.
b) Women should be exposed to more income generating projects to allow the more autonomy. An economically independent woman does not need to exchange sex for her basic needs.
c) More healthy, available and accessible counseling services should be provided for women.
d) A forum should be made available for women to come together to expose cultural taboos that are detrimental to women’s health.
e) Female – controlled and easy to use preventive methods should be developed.
f) There should also be policy changes, particularly specific anti-discriminatory provisions for greater protection of women’s rights and increase economic independence and legal status. This should include a greater political voice for women.

HIV/AIDS AND MEDICAL CARE
The universal declaration of Human Rights in its Article 25 (1), the Cameroon 1996 constitution and WHO charter in its article 1, states that it is an individual’s inalienable right to get medical care when he is sick. Right now, the human race is perplexed by the HIV epidemic which has no vaccine or cure. The testing for HIV virus should be voluntary. It is an individual’s right to refuse to go for testing but such refusal is morally wrong where medical institution may want to conduct this test for statistical purposes, the consent of the blood donor / patient should be sought. It will be a medical malpractice if a doctor or a health institution conducts an HIV test on anyone without his consent. It has been poorly argued that for statistical purposes patients may be screened without their knowledge. Such an argument is unfounded and is in violation of the right of the patient, since the health status of an individual is a personal matter. HIV/AIDS is not a contagious illness. We have already seen that HIV could be contracted through coming in contact with HIV contaminated blood, semen or breast milk through blood infusions, blood contact, sexual intercourse, sharing needles or syringe. Therefore a doctor or medical institution that isolates HIV/AIDS patients may be liaised for discrimination and causing additional emotional pain and suffering. Is being HIV positive patient not enough punishment?
One can even classify such isolation, as punitive if the patient has contagious HIV related diseases. Why would anyone punish an HIV/AIDS patient? It is an actionable tort when a patient is given HIV contaminated blood or treated with HIV unspecialized medical instruments.
Antiretroviral drugs can reduce the level of HIV in blood and also treat HIV related infections, but in Cameroon, many infected persons especially those in rural communities have no access to these ARV’s. It is estimated that in many developing countries and Africa in particular, four out of every five person visit traditional health practitioners and use traditional treatments. Traditional healers already treat large numbers of people living with HIV and AIDS. It is therefore important to look into this area of healthcare. It is also important to improve the approaches to working with traditional doctors, this can improve HIV prevention and care services while continuing to advocate for improved access to modern medicine and treatment.
To help the Cameroonian population in the rural areas and most developing countries at large, medical officers should come up with programmes to train traditional health practitioners on the necessity of sterilizing blades and other sharp objects they use in administering their treatment, so as to minimize the risk of HIV infection. Appropriate training encourages traditional health practitioners to replace harmful practices or myths about HIV with safer practices. They should discourage the practice of witchcraft by not classifying the AIDS symptoms as caused by witchcraft. These traditional healers should be encouraged to promote sexual abstinence among youths and fidelity within married adults. Such values often agree with traditional beliefs about the causes of sexually transmitted infections and other illnesses and it is now recognized that reduction in the number of sex partners is a powerful factor in reducing HIV transmission. To pass on proper training in handling HIV/ AIDS cases to our traditional healers, workshops and seminars should be organized by the Ministry of Public Health. As far as legal issues are concerned, traditional healers must be made to understand that accusing people of being responsible of one’s misfortune or illness or death through witchcraft without proof is a defamatory statement and could lead to criminal prosecution.
AIDS AND EMPLOYMENT
An HIV infected person has right as all human beings do, amongst them, the right to work. The universal declaration of Human Rights states that “Every person shall have the right and obligations to work”. AIDS is an issue of human rights and it is necessary to protect the right of working men and women living with the virus, these rights inter alia are access to productive and decent work, social security benefits, health care and the right to confidentiality. In Cameroon, HIV/AIDS infected persons have had their rights to work trampled upon by employers. Applications of job seekers have been rejected because of their HIV/AIDS status. Working men and women with HIV/AIDS have suffered all forms of discrimination at their job sites. Gaining access to employment is a major problem for HIV infected persons. A number of companies now require job seekers to pass an HIV/AIDS test before employment. Men and women including those with HIV/AIDS have the right to work in condition of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. One of an employee’s greatest nightmares begins when he is known or presumed to be HIV positive. He suffers all forms of discrimination. He is isolated by his colleagues. In the private sector, he may be passed over for promotion and is not taken into consideration for training programmes no matter how hard he may work. At worst, the employer dismisses him. When one looks at the discrimination going on in the world of work against HIV/AIDS person, one might fear that in the long run such persons will be completely kept out of work. However this might not be the case as there are some employers who are beginning to realize that these person’s rights as human beings must be respected. Nevertheless, such actions will not go a long way in protecting the rights of HIV/AIDS persons on the whole, as some of the important issues to be addressed by the proposed law that will be of help to people living with AIDS are:
 A person should not be discriminated against with regard to terms and conditions of employment because of his HIV status, if he is otherwise qualified.
 The law should prohibit an employer from inquiring about an employee or job applicant medical status. This law should also provide for reasonable accommodations to enable HIV/AIDS workers perform the essential function of a job, that is, flexible working hours, time off for doctors appointment etc. this law must also lay out the various remedies available for HIV/AIDS persons where their rights have been violated. It doesn’t suffice to lay out the rights.
HIV/AIDS AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
In many African countries and Cameroon included there is an experience of growth in HIV/AIDS and this is evidence and increasing in ages between 18 to 40 years. This age bracket is considered to be that when the woman is sexually active and of child bearing age. Women are one of the fastest growing populations being infected with HIV and the number of AIDS cases among women is increasing steadily each year. Because the time of infection to developing AIDS can be variably long, many of these women acquire HIV in their teens or as soon as they become sexually active. Women are more at risk to be infected as male to female transmission is estimated to be eight times more likely than female to male. This is so because HIV is more easily transmitted from men to women due to greater expose surface area in the female genital track. Women do not as yet wear the condom, therefore they are not capable of protecting themselves from HIV infections. They can therefore not rely on their own skills, attitudes and behaviors regarding condom use. They have to rely on their ability to convince their partner to use a condom. Gender, culture and power may be barriers to maintaining safer sex practices. Women are disproportionally represented among the poor and the less likely to have access to health care services. Most of them will have to struggle for daily survival and may have no concern about HIV infections when having sexual relations and the impact may be felt many years later. Like many people in committed relationships, women might find intimacy in their relationships to be more important than protection against HIV. Usually, unsafe sex may be linked to emotional, social and possibly financial dependence on men. Women are furthermore vulnerable to be infected with HIV because they are mostly passive partners in sexual relations and can not be heard to refuse sex to their husbands or partners even if infection is suspected. They are vulnerable and not in a position to avoid infection because they either do not receive preventive education or information or cannot act on it, and when infected are disempowered to cope with the impact. The woman’s subordinate status limits opportunities to be informed about HIV/AIDS making them more vulnerable to infections and impairing their ability to deal with possible consequences of infection which require care and support. Women some times can not negotiate safer sex or leave their partners because of social and legal norms and economic dependency norms that promote motherhood as the ideal form of self worth. This increases the vulnerability to HIV and constrains reproductive choices for HIV positive women. Double standard about chastity and fidelity means that many monogamously married women are powerless to avoid infection by their husband. For many women, many of their HIV diagnoses can carry with it the devastating assumptions that they can and will never have children. Many others receive their diagnoses while pregnant this is so because many women are not tested for HIV unless they become pregnant or ill. And some women infected with HIV may decide to have their babies while others chose to have a termination. The decision to terminate a pregnancy is very personal since the Cameroonian law allows for termination on grounds of ill health. This article is an attempt to look at the reproductive right of unborn child and to say that the woman infected with HIV can still become pregnant and have a baby. Being pregnant will not increase the chances of developing AIDS. Research has shown that pregnancy does not speed HIV disease progression. Yes, a woman with an HIV positive test result has a right to become pregnant. The unborn baby has a right to live not withstanding the fact that his mother is HIV positive and stands the risk of being infected with the virus. It has been scientifically proven that not all babies born to an infected mother will have the virus at the time of birth. All babies born to mothers with HIV are born with HIVanti bodies but babies who are not infected loose their anti bodies by the time they are 18 months old. There is a possibility of the decline in numbers of the perinatally infected infant. This is due to:
The implementation of new knowledge in perinatal HIV prevention and treatment for pregnant women with HIV infection. AZT is the most commonly used and approved therapy for preventing transmission from mother to child. Delivery by elective caesarean sections also reduces the risk of a baby becoming infected. It is usually best for a baby to be breast fed. However, if the mother has HIV, breastfeeding will increase the risk of her baby becoming infected. Therefore a mother with HIV may not have to breast feed as bottle feeding is a safer alternative. The reduction in HIV transmission from mother to infant with the use of anti HIV drugs has been a remarkable success story. This major advance can be shared if there is easy access to the necessary drugs, adequate prenatal care, improved nutrition and prevention of breast feeding by the mother. All pregnant women ought to benefit from the informed counseling of the potential risk and benefits of using an optional and potent anti HIV regimen during pregnancy and then be allowed to make their own decision, unfortunately, little is known about the long term effects of this compound to the child. Due to so many unanswered questions, any HIV positive woman who is pregnant or considering pregnancy should seek the care or an advice of a clinician with experience and or knowledge of the latest break through in HIV research, this ensure the best possible prenatal care and the best possible out come for both the mother and child.
WOMEN AND HIV/AIDS-APRAGMATIC APPROACH
The health and wellbeing of women every where is of great important in its own rights. It is also the key to the health and wellbeing of their, family, communities and societies .but every year, millions of women in developing countries die in pregnancy and /or child birth. HIV presents an enormous challenge to safe motherhood. In sub Saharan Africa, millions of pregnant women are HIV positive. Women with HIV are likely to have complication during pregnancy and/or delivery, or abortion. They are also more vulnerable to anemia, malaria, pneumonia and tuberculosis (TB)both HIV prevention and care is an essential part of safe motherhood maternity services could play a crucial role by improving for pregnant women with HIV/AIDS before, during and after pregnancy. Fewer resources will be needed if programs work together.
 The vulnerability element: while it is important for men’s own health, that they become more involved in HIV prevention and care, there are important benefits for women too. Some of this links to women’s heightened vulnerability to HIV infection others tie more closely to equality and equity in care. Women’s vulnerability to HIV transmission is particularly a matter of biology. because virginal tissues if fragile , particularly in younger women, during unprotected virginal intercourse, an HIV man is twice as likely , to transmit the virus to an uninfected woman as an HIV positive is to infect her male partner . Women also made vulnerable by men’s greater economics and social power and by unequal gender relations. It is men who generally decided when and with whom to have sex and whether to use condoms or not. This leaves women with little or no control over these exposure to the deadly Virus it is men too who are usually the perpetrators of sexual violence whether in war or civil unrest or within ongoing relationships. in 1999 during the follow-up to the Beijing Fourth World Conferences on women, the 43rd session of the United Nation Commission on the statues of women attention was drawn to the need to educate women and men particularly young people, with a view to promoting equal relationships between men and women and to encourage to accept their responsibilities in matters relating to sexuality, reproduction and child bearing.
 Prevention through sex: there are many ways preventing the sexual transmission of HIV between women and their partners these includes abstinence, mutual fidelity, sex that does not involve virginal or anal penetration and condom use. However most prevention massages are simplicity and not tailored to the complex, and often hidden reality of men’s relationships with women or other men National AIDS campaigns have promoted abstinence outside marriage and fidelity within it wit some success. However, abstinence for young men is difficult and a menu of risk reduction option needs to be offered. The consistence use of male and female and female condoms in virginal or and sex also protects HIV and STI’s. Condoms, however, are under used for a variety of reason. In casual or commercial sex, men’s condom use is more common than in marriage but still often inconsistent in a study that was conducted in Zimbabwe, some two years ago, men interviewed had sex with prostitutes on an average of seven times a month but only used Condoms in about half of those encounters. Studies in many other countires have confirmed that female condom is an alternatives which some men and women find more comfortable than the male version. Like the male condom the female version can also be used for anal intercourse. Female condoms are, however much more expensive and difficult to acquire and because they remain visible during intercourse they still require male consent. When condoms are not used the prevalence of unsafe sex before an outside marriage plus the lack of HIV testing, means that millions of couple around the world, do not know whether they are practicing safer sex or not. Except when the goal is contraception introducing condoms use in a regular relationship, can be difficult. One problem is the difficulty of acknowledging premarital or casual sex and discussing the possibility of infection. For couples who wish to have children, the challenged is compounded by the fact that condoms interfere with procreation. A great deal of HIV transmission occurs as a result.
 Reproductive rights and choices: all women, regardless of their HIV status have the rights to choice whether and when to have children a woman who knows she is HIV positive , needs information about the HIV related risk of pregnancy for her self and her baby and how they can be reduced. But she most still be free to make her own decisions about whether or not to have children and should be supported in her choice.
 Ensuring mother’s rights to be healthy: All women need care and advice to help them remain healthy during their pregnancy. Protect women from HIV. The only completely reliable way to stop mother to child transmission of HIV is to prevent young girls and women from becoming HIV positive.
 Promote safe sex: Even after becoming pregnant, women should continue to practice safe sex unless they are absolutely certain that their partner is not HIV positive. Continuing to use condoms will also prevent STI’s. Keeping to one sexual partner makes sex safe on the condition that the partner is faithful.
 Test for, and treat all infection: An essential part of care for a pregnant woman is to look for, ask about and treat any infection she might have, especially those who are HIV positive. It is difficult for many women to decide what to eat because of poverty, customs or their status-leaving them fewer choices. Education about which local foods are most nutritious and the importance of pregnant women being well fed need to be un going. Discourage smoking and the use of alcohol and other drugs. Smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and the use of some drugs and herbal remedies can harm the unborn child. HIV positive women need to be especially careful because anything that damages their health can lower C D 4 counts.
 Provide Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV: Many women knowing their HIV status will help them make decisions that reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to their babies. The counselor might be a health worker such as a mid wife or a nurse, or may be a lay person. Peer counselors such as people who are themselves HIV positive. Can be very valuable.
 Points for Action:
 Gender awareness: promote understanding of the way in which gender stereotypes and expectation affects women and men. Support works that enhance gender equality and equity. Encourage discussion about the way girls are brought up and are expected to behave.
 Sexual communication and Negotiations: Encourage women to talk about sex with their partners enhance women’s capacity to determine when, where, and whether to have sex or not. Enhance both men and women access to appropriate sources to information, counseling and support. Promote greater understanding and acceptance of HIV/AIDS.
 Support and Care: Help women in their role as mother and providers of care and support within the family and community at large.
HUMAN RIGHTS, HIV/AIDS AND THE WOMAN
At the dawn of a new century, we still look at the future dominated by the deadly disease, which just a few decades ago were totally unknown. It may be shocking to know that over 75% of those infected with HIV live in the developing world, to which Cameroon belong. In this section, we will be considering the AIDS pandemic and HIV and how it affects women and children and what we can do about it.
1. The physiology of the woman: The mere fact that one is a woman has been proven, to make that person more vulnerable to contracting AIDS. Studies have confirmed that there is greater transmissibility of HIV from male to female. It has been estimated through research that the woman’s risk of being infected by HIV is at least twice that of a man. This is largely due to their physiological make up which has an extensive area of mucous membrane through which the virus get into the vaginal and to the cervix. Younger women, especially teenagers even run a greater risk due to their immature cervix and relatively low vaginal mucous. Production which are suspected to prevent less of a hindrance to HIV.
2. Childhood Marriages: In Cameroon like most African countries, young girls are given out to marriage as early as twelve years or even sooner. A girl child find herself married to a man who has maybe two other wives or children older than herself. He therefore has been sexually active for much longer and it is quite possible that he is already infected with HIV and as such, the girl child is of a very disadvantaged and pitiful position because as soon as soon as she indulges in sexual intercourse with her supposed husband, she finds herself with HIV.
3. Reproductive Health of Women: The fact that women carry pregnancies and are very dedicated during this period, makes them more vulnerable to epidemic. With complicated pregnancies and the need for blood transmission, the possibility of being infected is greater.
4. Labour Migration: Labour migration has been known to facilitate the spread of the disease with the woman again as the victim. Labour migration usually separates couples and leads to the establishment of temporarily migrant communities which are usually dominated by single sex most often man. This usually creates a market for prostitution as such; men have the money and need sex, so they are ready to pay for it. The examples are alive in Cameroon as we notice that wherever there has been the construction of roads, involving expatriate companies, who are Caucasians, we find a sudden prevalence of (mulatto) children (half-cast) which goes to demonstrate the sexual involvement of these workers in the community. The presence of these children is evidence that intercourse was done with no precaution. These types of women are far more prone to being infected with HIV.
5. Gender Inequality: Women in developing countries especially Cameroon and Africa at large are economically disadvantaged due to poor education, early marriages and no skill training which render them mostly unemployed. They are therefore dependent on men economically, which limits their choice on matters relating to health and sexuality. Also, the woman’s low social status and cultural demands which compares her to be always submissive to the male in sexual relations, further hampers her from controlling her sex life, she can not be heard to insist on the use of condoms. Also, the marital system of Polygamy which is prevalent in our towns and villages has the women at a disadvantaged position, as the husband goes from wife to wife can be infected by one wayward wife and the other wives will automatically be infected.
6. Women’s Attitude towards AIDS: The attitude of the woman herself in Cameroon to the issue of AIDS is quite alarming and a cause for concern. A study carried out with some female sex workers in Kumba, in the South West Province of Cameroon reveals that they all agree that AIDS exist, but they are doing nothing to protect themselves especially when the men are ready to pay huge sums of money. Some say they never use a condom with such clients the reason is simple. To these women, AIDS is not a reality as of now. For them, AIDS is something that affects other people not them. In their complacency, they feel out of the reach of AIDS. This non challence with which women in Cameroon have embraced the issue of AIDS requires that something more has to be done and urgently to raise awareness especially among female sex workers, female student on the dangers of AIDS and the fact that it is real.
7. Human Rights and Health: The universal declaration of Human Rights of 1948 gave the rights to every one to have a living standard sufficient to ensure one and his family good health as concerns food, clothing, housing, medical care and social services. Also, article 12 of the International Covenant on Economy, Social and Cultural rights also recognizes the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. These documents are the best legal and ideological weapons for protecting legal rights and autonomy of an individual. It therefore follows that for women to enjoy their human rights relating to health the following must be done;
 There has to be a cultural change which gives the woman the status of a partner in her marriage and not sub servant to her husband even on issues which concerns her health.
 There also has to be a free medical screening of HIV in all of the main towns of Cameroon where women can be encouraged at no cost to check themselves. For now, the cost of an HIV screening in Cameroon is 500 FRS ($1). This is still expensive.
 Empowerment of the woman economically is very important as it will make her independent to be able to control her sexuality if women are empowered economically, (by giving them some skills and small short term loans), they will find satisfaction in life and not continue to sell sex for a living.
 There has been a steep drop in our standards of morality. Infact, nowadays, you find high school and university girls kept by more than one “sugar daddies” who finance their acquired high taste. We call on the judges to do more in this area of moral rectitude to the girls and women whom the men have taken advantage of their vulnerability.
HIV/AIDS AND SOCIAL CONTROL
In the absence of a vaccine or cure, prevention is the only feasible strategy for fighting the HIV epidemic. This message of prevention has been preached for years, yet the spread of HIV virus is still on the increase. The estimated cumulative number of HIV infections worldwide has risen. About 80 - 90% is thought to be sexually transmitted. So has the prevention work?
The rise of the infection in developing countries seems to indicate a massive defeat of international response. However, as nobody knows the real virulence of HIV, of what would have happened with no planned prevention intervention, the score has to remain open. It may be that all the information, education and communication efforts and all the blood testing and counseling have infact prevented a much more devastating explosion internationally or in a certain local/national areas. Even without knowing precisely the impact of prevention effort on the spread of global HIV, the challenge remains in the absence of a vaccine prevention interventions will remain the key to HIV control. The information, education and communication approaches in the fight against HIV have stressed the change of behaviour in relation to sexual attitudes. Those who are sexually active are advised to adopt sexual behaviors that reduce the risk of infection. The intervention to break the chain of transmission is seen basically as a technique to physical barriers like condoms, behavioral barriers like the abstinence or partner reduction, to stop the passage of the virus from one person to another. Youths have been identified as the target of the information and education campaigns. To stop these youths from behaving sexually as they did in the past became the prime task of the prevention of all sexual transmission. Although it is true that in the end, each individual who acts sexually has to take responsibility for his/her action, it is nevertheless obvious that sexual behavior and consumption patterns are strongly influenced by gender, social, cultural and economic factors. What a given society regards as sexually right or wrong as a taboo, deviant or normal is decided by the individual actor, and not by a set of norms and values to which different gratifications and sanctions are attached. For example, in Africa the social inequality between men and women is most responsible for the spread of the virus. Women, especially youths generally lack the social power to set the terms of sexual relationships. Social isolation and lack of education limits their knowledge of prevention behavior. Young girls and women living in poverty are often enticed or coerced to trade sex for support or social promotion and maybe forced into prostitution or polygamous marriages, why inheritance and societal promotion and concentration of the male infidelity are factors which have been identified as favourable in the transmission of the virus and the AIDS disease. As a result of these factors, which centres largely on the vulnerability of a woman to HIV infection, the complete success of the prevention method a major break through is conceptual thinking has been negative. Therefore, a shift in emphasis must take place from concentration on individual behavioral change to addressing the social and cultural structure of sexual relations and the individual as part of a community and a network. In doing so, the state or community should also enhance the ability of women to control their sexual relationships. Men and women should talk openly about sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. The state or community should also encourage men to take care of themselves, their partners and families. Our society is plagued with some men who are irresponsible in every conceivable way. They have a denial syndrome and they blame everything on the woman. Our society also suffers from some promiscuous married women in the rural and urban cities, who have discriminate extra marital sex as a routine. The state or community must provide good and quality education of sexual health; HIV/AIDS and life preserving skills for youths in and out of schools.

HIV/AIDS, eine komplette Annäherung
Automatically translated into German thanks to WorldLingo
EINLEITUNG
AIDS wird als einer der ravaging Krankheit aller Male angesehen. Die Tatsache, die wie am Datum es keine bekannte Heilung gibt, bildet das Virus erschreckender als überhaupt. Die Krankheit ist herum für rüber 30 Jahre gewesen, aber es ist ein Wunder, daß einige Leute (Jugend insbesondere) gerechte Hörfähigkeit über sie sind. Sein Ursprung ist nicht mehr von jeder möglicher Konsequenz, ob es eine Bestrafung für unsere Unmoral ist, oder was überhaupt es ist, aufhört, von der Bedeutung, als ob als jetzt Opfer, hat das unschuldigste zu sein d.h. Babys und Jugend.
Die AIDS-Krise ist jetzt die Krise der Entwicklungsländer und der Welt, besonders Afrika. Das klinische Syndrom ist der größte Feind zur dieser tödlichen und meisten verheerenden Krankheit, da angesteckte Personen fortfahren, die Infektion zu verbreiten.
Verhaltensänderung, die Annahme durch die angesteckt und ihre Mitarbeit ist die einzige Weise in Richtung zu, die Verbreitung dieses Virus zu kämpfen.

PRÄAMBEL
HIV/AIDS. Ist es ein Kummer oder ein Fluch? Was ist dieses Virus, das Verwüstung in unserer Gesellschaft und in verwirrenden wissenschaftlichen Verstand ruiniert?
Wir sind von den Wissenschaftlern erklärt worden, daß HIV für menschliches Immunodeficiency-Virus steht und AIDS für erworbenes immunes Mangel-Syndrom steht, das das letzte Stadium der Krankheit ist.
Wenn Sie HIV Positiv sind, werden Sie mit dem Virus angesteckt und Ihr Körper reagiert, indem er HIV Antikörper produziert. Wenn Sie Zugang zu einer HIV Blutprobe haben, zeigt sie diese Anti- Körper.
Jedoch einmal und Einzelperson wird mit HIV, es dauert eine bestimmte Zeitmenge angesteckt, bevor der Organismus Antikörper entwickelt, folglich gibt es eine bestimmte „Fensterperiode“, wenn eine angesteckte Person Negativ prüft. Diese Fensterperiode dauern für häufig zwischen vier Wochen und sechs Monaten, in den Sonderfällen sogar länger. Während dieser Periode sind aller HIV angesteckte Personen ansteckend.
Medizinische Wissenschaft hat die, einige Wochen nach Infektion gezeigt; eine Minorität angesteckte Personen erfahren einige akute Symptome, häufig unbemerkt.
Dort nach, steckte aller HIV Personen erfahren eine lange Periode ohne typische ernste Krankheiten die sogenannte „asymptomatische“ Periode an. Diese Periode kann einige Jahre dauern.
Während dieser asymptomatischen Periode sind angesteckte Personen in der Lage, das Virus anderen überzumitteln. Nach dieser Periode sehen die ersten Symptome der Unterbrechung für immune Verteidigung in Form von bestimmte Krankheiten aus, die als AIDS bezogener Komplex gekennzeichnet. Das abschließende Stadium des Krankheit „vollerblühten“ AIDS, folgt, wenn eine HIV angesteckte Person einen oder mehrer der „opportunistic“ Infektion und oder der Krebse entwickelt. Die Krankheiten werden opportunistic genannt, weil sie die Gelegenheit nutzen, die durch das geschwächte immune System dargestellt wird. Das progressive Schwächen des Organismus ergibt schließlich den Tod des Patienten. Keine Heilung (und keine Schutzimpfung gegen) der HIV Infektion oder des AIDS ist schon entdeckt worden.
Drogen mögen Efavirenz (EFV), Delavirdine (DLV), Nevirapine (NVP), AZT/3TC (Combivir), AZT/3TC/ABC (Trizivir), Zidovudine (AZT) und Didanosine (DDI) wenn Sie in der Kombination oder mit anderer Medikation verwendet werden, kann den medizinischen Zustand und die Lebensqualität der angesteckten Person behandeln oder verbessern.
Diese Drogen arbeiten, indem sie die Menge von HIV im Blut (Virenlast) senken und erhöhen die Zahl Zellen der Lymphozyte CD4, eine Art immune Zelle im Blut. Wissenschaftler haben uns auch erklärt, daß HIV durch  übertragen werden
kann Ungeschütztes Geschlecht mit jemand haben, das HIV Positiv ist. Ungefähr 80 bis 90 Prozent der Infektion werden gedacht, sexuell übertragen zu werden.
 Spritzen teilen und Ausrüstung einspritzend, die nicht richtig entkeimt worden ist.
 , medizinische Ausrüstung verschmutzend, die nicht richtig auf Leuten entkeimt worden oder verwendet worden sind.
 , Blutgetriebe gebend, die mit HIV angesteckt werden.
 Spenderbefruchtung mit HIV angestecktem Samen.
 Vertikales Getriebe von HIV von Mutter zu Baby während der Schwangerschaft, der Kindgeburt oder des Stillens. HIV/AIDS ist auf randalierte muß innen Entwicklungsländer und Cameroon insbesondere. Es hat viele getötet und es tötet das jugendliche und reich an Hilfsquellen Erzeugung dieser Welt.
Afrika ist jetzt eine endemische Zone, die man zu einer Kriegzone vergleichen kann. Niemand ist frei - Sie sind entweder ein Opfer des Virus oder ein Opfer des Verlustes des Verwandten, Nachbarn, Freund oder eine bekannte, die durch das Virus behauptet wird. Wir finden Opfer, die von der Arbeit aus Gesundheit Gründen oder hohen medizinischen Rechnungen ausgebreitet worden sind. Niemand spricht den gefürchteten Namen des Virus als die reale Ursache der vorübergehenden Entlassung aus. Es wird nur geflüstert. Furcht hat die Herzen der Männer gegriffen und Zorn hat einige von denen verbraucht, die erklärtes HIV Positiv gewesen sind. Sie haben Kräfte mit dem Monstervirus verbunden, um da viele unsuspecting unschuldige Leute anzustecken, bevor sie sterben. Die Vorherrschenrate (7.2) von HIV/AIDS in Cameroon hat ein angetrieben, auf HIV/AIDS, Entwicklung etc. zu schreiben der menschlichen Rechte. damit die Jugend von Cameroon sensibilisieren und jenseits und zu den hellen Ausgaben holen, denen Opfer des Virus, der medizinischen Doktoren und der Anstalten (allgemein und privat) gegenübergestellt werden können mit. Da HIV/AIDS eine neue Krankheit ist, reflektieren die Cameroon Gesetze nicht das gegenwärtige medizinische Wissen oder einiges der soziologisch-zugelassenen Probleme, die sich resultierend aus HIV/AIDS entwickelt haben, des etc. Da wir Unterhaltung der menschlichen Rechte und das Gesetz in Beziehung zu HIV/AIDS Opfern sind, ist es notwendig, zu wissen, welche menschliche Rechte und das Gesetz ist
Menschliche Rechte können sein definieren als Richtlinien, die gleich sind und unübertragbar und sie sicherstellen Würde wenn die menschliche Rasse sind. Diese Richtlinien sind die Grundlage der Freiheit; Gerechtigkeit und Frieden in der Welt stellen sie Menschen genießen Freiheit der Rede und des Glaubens und Freiheit von Furcht und wünschen sicher.
Kunst 25 (1) der Universalerklärung der menschlichen Rechte „vereinbart, daß jedes die Rechte zu einem Standard des Lebens ausreichend für Gesundheit und Wohl von und seine Familie, einschließlich Nahrung, Kleidung, Gehäuse und medizinische Behandlung hat, und notwendige Sozialeinrichtungen und das Recht zur Sicherheit im Falle der Arbeitslosigkeit, der Krankheit, der Unfähigkeit, der Witwenschaft und des hohen Alters- oder anderen Mangels an Lebensunterhalt unter den Umständen über sind seiner Steuerung hinaus. Mit Respekt zum oben genannten ist es wesentlich, daß menschliche Rechte durch den Rechtsgrundsatz geschützt werden, wenn Mann nicht gezwungen werden soll, um Entschädigung, wie letzter Ausweg, zum Aufstand gegen Tyrannei und Unterdrückung zu haben.

SCHUTZ DER HIV/AIDS PATIENTEN GEGEN UNTERSCHEIDUNG
Diskriminierung gegen die lebend mit HIV/AIDS ist allgemeiner Platz in unserer Gesellschaft. Es ist einer der bedeutendsten Mißbräuche der menschlichen Rechte im Bereich von HIV/AIDS. Es behindert die volle Teilnahme und die Integration der Leute, die mit HIV/Aids in der Gemeinschaft leben.
Unterscheidung kann irgendein direkt oder indirekt sein. Direkte Unterscheidung tritt, wo eine Person andere kleiner vorteilhaft behandelt, als eine dritte Person würde behandelt worden sein unter vergleichbaren Umständen auf.
Indirekte Unterscheidung tritt einerseits, wo unvernünftige Bedingungen oder Anforderung, wie vorgeschriebener prüfender HIV, mit einem im wesentlichen höheren Anteil der Person eines anderen Status angewendet werden, muß einwilligt mit als Personen des gleichen Status auf, den die Person, die behauptet abgesondert worden zu sein gegen.
Bereiche der Unterscheidung schließen Verbindung, Beschäftigung, Ausbildung, ärztliche Behandlung, Anpassung, Immigration/Auswanderung und einige andere mit ein.
Es sollte gemerkt werden, daß HIV nicht beiläufig übertragen wird. Ein Beispiel des beiläufigen Getriebes ist Tröpfcheninfektion, die mit dem Niesen, dem Husten oder dem Teilen der Geräte auftritt.
Unterscheidung sollte gegen Personen mit tatsächlichem wahrgenommenem oder vermutetem HIV Status folglich verboten werden, und das wirkungsvollste Rechtsmittel ist der Erlaß der allgemeinen Unterscheidunggesetzgebung, die die unfairen irrelevanten Unterscheidungwesen verbietet, die aus den Grund von HIV/AIDS gebildet werden.
Es sollte daß, beim Beabsichtigen gemerkt werden, Unterscheidung auf solchem Boden zu beenden, Zustände verbunden werden, um Einzelpersonen vor abgelegenen allgemeinen Behörden der Unterscheidung nicht nur zu schützen, aber auch der private Sektor und die Privatpersonen in den allgemeinen Tätigkeiten.
Vorurteil gegen PLWHA zu verringern ist wichtig und praktisch, da es Sperren zur frühen Diagnose und zur Behandlung entfernt. Diskriminierende Haltung kann durch das Verordnen der Anti-diskriminierenden und schützenden Gesetze im Parlament, durch Ausbildung, Training und die Mittel und das Sicherstellen des wirkungsvollen administrativen Verfahrens für Unterkunft von Beanstandungen gegen solche Haltung folglich geändert werden.
In Cameroon ist Unterscheidung und Stigmatisierung gegen die Leute, die mit HIV/AIDS leben, sehr allgemein. Die Regierung durch seine medizinischen Personale, nichtstaatliche Organisationen und einige private Körper hat durch Vorträge und die Mittelprogramme, die versucht werden, um die öffentlichkeit auf den möglichen Weisen des Vertrages Abschließens Vertrages Abschließens der Krankheit zu erziehen und zu sensibilisieren. Dieses ist in einer Spitze, zum des Verbreitens der Krankheit zu stoppen und der diskriminierenden einstellungen gegenüber HIV/AIDS Patienten zu entmutigen, aber Unterscheidung besteht noch und es gibt noch, um es vollständig zu beseitigen oder auszurotten getan zu werden viel.
a) Ändernde diskriminierende Haltung durch Parlamente: das wirkungsvollste Rechtsmittel ist der Erlaß diskriminierenden Gesetzgebung des Generals der Anti-, die die unfaire und irrelevante Unterscheidung verbietet, die auf spezifiziertem Boden gegen das PLWHA gebildet wird. Werkstätten sind in einigen Ländern gehalten worden, um Bewußtsein der HIV/AIDS Ausgabe aufzuwerfen und Politiker zu den Ausgaben des menschlichen Rechtes zu sensibilisieren.
Diese Werkstätten sind erfolgreich gewesen, wenn sie nicht ein Klima der Unterscheidung und Offenheit im Parlament verursachten. Es ist an solchen Werkstätten, denen die Teilnehmer, die mit Familie Mitgliedern oder Freunden leben, die sind, angesteckter HIV ihr Verhältnis zu diesen angesteckten Personen öffentlich bestätigen können. Diese können die diskriminierende Haltung anderer Teilnehmer ändern und die Weise für einfachen Durchgang durch Parlamente der Anti- diskriminierenden Gesetze folglich pflastern. Im Parlament einiger Länder haben eine Kommission zu nicht einer Diskriminierung gegen HIV angesteckte Personen verursacht, während andere parlamentarische Körper Arbeit mit anderer AIDS-Organisation haben, zum dieses von Unterscheidung zu kämpfen. Die Gesetzgebung, um Diskriminierung gegen PLWHA zu kämpfen könnte „bestätigender Tätigkeit“ ermöglichen zum Beispiel eine Gemeinschaft, die Gruppe Präferenz zur Beschäftigung geben kann HIV den positiven Leuten, weil sie Mitglieder einer geschützten Kategorie sind, die allgemeiner Unterscheidung unterworfen worden ist.
Offenbar sollten Standards des Zur Verfügung stellens von Unterscheidung durch die Gesetzgebung adressiert werden, oder Beispiel, die Gesetzgebung könnte HIV/AIDS-Unfähigkeit nur eine von einigen Gründen für das Tun einer diskriminierenden Tat bilden; dieses allein sollte genügend sein, überzeugung in einem Argument zu reiben, das gegen Einzelpersonen, Korporation eingeleitet wird, oder der Körper für das Absondern gegen die lebend mit HIV/AIDS.
Die Gesetzgebung könnte Gesetze auch verordnen, die einen beiläufigen Anschluß ermöglichen, anstatt Beweis der Führung zwischen der diskriminierenden Führung und dem HIV/AIDS/der Unfähigkeit, zum eine Anforderung zu zu sein eine Heilung fand.
Parlament könnte die Kreation der wirkungsvollen administrativen Verfahren für die Wohnung von Beanstandungen auch sicherstellen und das Bestehen des Unabhängigen sicherzustellen informierte sich und schnelle Alleen für Redress wie Kommission der menschlichen Rechte, welche spezielle Verfahren für Kästen schnell aufspüren haben, in denen die Beschwerdeführer am Ende Kranke ist. Einige dieser richtig angefaßten Beanstandungen entmutigen Unterscheidung. Hilfsmittel erkennen durch das Parlament sollten für Körperunterscheidung durch Arbeitgeber der Firmen besonders bestehen anstatt einfachen Einzelpersonen Fall, die Anwendung begrenzt haben.
Beschäftigung, seiend ein Hauptbereich, in dem diskriminierende Haltung allgemeiner Platz gegen die ist, die mit HIV/AIDS leben, vorgeschriebene Ausrüstung, die angibt, daß die Person beschäftigte, wenn er ist, die zugehörigen Anforderungen des Jobs durchzuführen.
b) Ändernde diskriminierende Haltung durch die Justizgewalt: In einigen Ländern ist die Justizgewalt als Instrument gezielt worden, wenn man die diskriminierende Haltung änderte, die mit HIV/AIDS verbunden ist. Werkstätten sind organisiert worden, um Richter zu sensibilisieren und Bewußtsein der HIV/AIDS Ausgaben zu verursachen, die in den Gerichten z.B. auftauchen können. Klage angestrengt durch PLWHA oder in ihrem Interesse gegen Einzelpersonen oder in der Mitarbeit für diskriminierende einstellungen gegenüber ihnen.
c) Ändernde diskriminierende Haltung durch die Zustände: der Zustand kann diskriminierende Haltung gegen die Leute auch ändern, die mit HIV/AIDS durch Ausbildung, Training und die Mittel leben. Der Zustand mit einer ausgedehnten Strecke der Mittel wie Filme, Fernsehen, Radio, usw. könnte zusammen mit passenden Wesen wie Mittelgruppen, nichtstaatlicher Organisation, Vorrichtung und die verteilte Programmierung, zum des Respektes für das Recht und die Würde der Leute mit HIV/AIDS und der Mitglieder der verletzbaren Gruppe zu fördern und zu unterstützen solche Programme sollte Mythen, und Annahmen, über das Leben mit HIV/AIDS zu zerstreuen anstreben, indem sie sie als Freunde, Verwandte, Kollegen, Nachbarn und Partner bildlich darstellt. Solcher Mut sollte die Versicherung hinsichtlich ist der übertragungsarten des Virus und die Sicherheit des täglichen Sozialkontaktes auch verstärken.
Die negativen Effekte von Haltung der Unterscheidung und der Stigmatisierung verbanden mit HIV/AIDS können nicht der hervorgehobene überschuß sein. Die Leute, die mit dem HIV Virus leben, sind in der Lage zu leben recht lange und produktive Leben, besonders mit neuem Fortschritt in der antiretroviral Behandlung.
Versuch, die Leute, die mit dem Virus von der Mannschaft vorzeitig auszuschließen leben, sind unfair und ein Bruch der menschlichen Rechte. Sie sind auch möglicherweise unwirtschaftlich, wenn sie die qualifizierteste Person von einer Position willkürlich ausschließen können.
Diese diskriminierende Haltung muß entmutigt werden und geändert werden. Die, die mit dem Virus leben, müssen sein und das Gefühl, das vor Stigmatisierung und Unterscheidung von ihren Gemeinschaften geschützt wird. Damit diese geschützten Masse eingeführt werden können und der gewünschte Auswirkung Filz, entwerfen es Notwendigkeit die beratenen Bemühungen nicht nur des Zustandes alleine oder Parlament, aber jeder im privaten und allgemeinen Sektor, die breite und fortwährende Verteilung der kreativen Ausbildung, Training und Mittelprogramme zu fördern ausdrücklich, Haltung der Unterscheidung und der Stigmatisierung zu ändern gegen HIV/AIDS zum Verstehen und zur Annahme.
Das Schild der Vertraulichkeit
Vertraulichkeit wird von der ausgedehnten Unterseite annahm allgemeinhin Grundregel einer Person ist recht zum Privatleben gezeichnet. Ein Recht, das gerichtlich als Schild von der unbefugten Bestimmung einer Einerbeschaffenheit genehmigt wird, das Publizieren von einen Privatangelegenheiten, mit denen die öffentlichkeit kein gesetzmaßiges Interesse hat. Dieses ist ein unabhängiges verbrieftes Recht der Einzelperson und seine Verletzung setzt eine unerlaubte Handlung fest. Dekan Prosser, in seiner Arbeit über der unerlaubter Handlung, unterschied vier Kategorien unerlaubten Handlungen, die innerhalb der Rechte des Privatlebens, die Vertraulichkeit umfaßt wurden, die einer von so ist. Ein Recht, das nach der konstitutionellen Garantie des Lebens, Freiheit vorausgesagt wird und die Verfolgung der zeichnenden Inspiration des Glückes von der Universalerklärung der menschlichen Rechte, die die unübertragbaren und heiligen Rechte der Person unterstützen, kann es gesagt werden daß, wenn das Gesetz bis eins dem Recht garantiert, sein Leben zu genießen, ein Geschenk zu ihm etwas mehr als gerade das Recht zu atmen. Die Freiheit, die er vom Naturgesetz fährt und erkennen durch die nationalen Beschaffenheiten einschließt das Recht zu leben, während man wählt, solange diese Wahl nicht das Recht von den anderen oder von der öffentlichkeit behindert. Es ist innerhalb dieses Geistes, daß internationale Gesetze, wie in der Universalerklärung der menschlichen Rechte eingeschlossen dem Recht zum Privatleben mit dem Gesetz als die überwachung garantiert. Vertraulichkeit unterscheidet sich jedoch von allen anderen Rechten des Privatlebens in dem, es aus von dem anvertrautem Verhältnis fließt die Freigabe entsteht, die auf einer Plattform des Vertrauens, des Vertrauens und des skrupulösen guten Glaubens und der Offenheit, die es, aufgedeckt wird erfordert.
Das geduldige Verhältnis des vertraulichen Arztes fällt innerhalb dieser Kategorie. Vertraulichkeit erlaubt einen vertrauten Nachrichtenaustausch passende Obacht und korrekte Diagnose erleichternd. Die Arztaufgabe setzt ein schützendes Schild gegen das unerwünschte Eindringen von anderen fest. Mit dem Aufkommen des HIV Virus, haben die meisten Krankenhäuser die Grundregel der Vertraulichkeit stark unterstützend Kennwörter entwickelt, die von den medizinischen Fachleuten selbst nur gedeutet werden können, um das Virus anzuzeigen. Infact the health care provider is set to own the medical records but the patient owns the information with the records.
The principle of confidentiality is not absolute Ethical, legal and statutory obligations may permit physicians to disclose information when legally requested by the court or for the purpose of legal investigations or referred to him in his capacity as a medical expert. At a minimum health care professionals have an ethical duty to inform patients prior to testing, as well as upon receipt of result that the, information obtained may have familiar implications. A person tested positive with the HIV virus automatically puts the wife/husband at risk. In such case exceptional disclosures are permissible when: -
 Attempts to encourage disclosure on the part of patients have failed
 The harm is highly likely to occur and if serious, imminent and foreseeable.
 The “at risk” relatives are identifiable and
 The disease is preventable

WOMEN’S VULNERABILITY TO HIV/AIDS IN CAMEROON
Of the 18million people living in Cameroon, about 52% are girls and women belonging to diverse cultures and religions. These women or girls represent a fascinating weave of modernity and tradition, progress and backwardness. A common stand that runs through this weaves is that of inequality between the privilege and not so privilege, between urban and rural, between men and women. The woman however have continued to make strides towards equality with men; whenever they are educated able to generate income and enjoy equal protection under the law, they are in a position to have some control over their economic, social and personal life. However, these goals are still remote for millions of Cameroonians who are vulnerable to HIV infections. This vulnerability is no doubt due to the number of factors
a) Biological Vulnerability; this applies generally to all women, the Cameroonian women inclusive. It is gathered from several sources that the risk of being infected with HIV as with other transmissible diseases during unprotected sexual intercourse, is as much as two to four times higher for women than men. This is because, as compared to men, women have a larger mucosal surface exposed during intercourse to their partner’s secretion. Since semen that is infected contains a higher concentration of the virus than a woman’s sexual secretions, this makes male to female transmission more efficient than female to male. In young girls their physiological immune cervix and scant secretion puts up fewer barriers to HIV so that they are at even greater biological risk. Tearing and bleeding during sexual intercourse whether from rough sex, rape, or prior genital mutilation (female circumcision), multiplies the risk of HIV infections in women. Anal intercourse practiced by some women as a means of preserving virginity or avoiding risk of pregnancy, often tears the delicate tissue and affords easy entry of the virus.
Another biological factor of great importance is an untreated sexually transmitted infection (STI)
in either partner, which multiplies the risk of HIV transmission by up to 10-fold.
Women are also epidemically vulnerable through blood transfusion during pregnancy or child birth.
b) Social vulnerability; social vulnerability despite constitutional and legislative guarantees, the unequal states of women is greatly manifested in almost all social aspects. For most Cameroonian women, their social standing and interaction in a male dominated society greatly contributed to the deadly diseases. The situation is such that most men expect sex with any woman who receives their support resulting in sexual subordination thus creating a very unhealthy atmosphere for AIDS prevention .Social attitudes are such that initiative and decision making in sex is left to the dominants males. Thus most women have no skills to resist or say no to unwanted and unsafe sex. Another issue of concern is the growing demand for younger sex partners, the sugar daddy phenomenon where old men offer young girls gifts and huge sums of money in exchange for sex. In other instances sex is the “currency” for pass grades, jobs opportunities. The high rate of promiscuity and acceptable infidelity is dangerous fertile grounds for women’s vulnerability.
c) Economic Vulnerability: due to the economic situation and circumstances, women’s autonomy is crippled. Lacking economic resources of their own, most women are vulnerable because they depend on the on men for support. In almost all cases men expect sex with any woman who receives their supports. Being fearful of abandonment or violence on the part of their male partners, they have little or no control over how and when they have sex and when and hence over the risk of becoming infected with HIV. In some areas, women have several male partners who provide support for their children’s needs and other necessities. The drastic cut in salaries in the 90’s and the economic crisis having dealt most Cameroonians a blow, women’s dependence on men’s support drastically increased. Furthermore, women also face a double burden relative to the epidemic. They are not only more vulnerable than men to acquiring the infection, but they also bear the greatest responsibility in providing care to infected family members.
1) Cultural and Traditional Practices: most of the campaigns on the fight against HIV/AIDS have so far been focused on orthodox means such as multiple sex partners , sharing of needles, blood transfusion and congenial infection from an infected mother to an unborn child among others. Research have shown that rooted in people’s cultures and traditional practices in Cameroon as in other African countries, are practice that are more dangerous potentials means of spreading the dreaded Virus. Some of these practices involve skin cut, lesions, wife inheritance, and widowhood rights, tribal marks, body scarification, tattoos, blood letting and female circumcision as explain below.
 Scarification by native / traditional doctors; this practice is pervasive amongst most Cameroonian even the elites. People still secretly visit these native doctors for charms and native powers to induce diverse kinds of favors such as promotion, monetary rewards, and insurance against perceived enemies including witches and wizards. Most native doctors satisfy these discrete but pervasive wishes by scarifying their clients and applying substances believed to possess powers to produce the desired results. There is the practice of scarifying the face in most tribes leaving terrible and sometimes very frightful and embarrassing tribal marks. The truth is that the surgical knives, blades, broken bottles, or sharp edged stones often used by these native doctors and elders of these tribes are not sterilized and the same tools are used on as many clients as possible. In the course of these practices, there is inevitable blood transfusion, a channel of contracting the HIV virus
 Widowhood rites / Wife Inheritance: In many African countries and Cameroonian tribes, a widow is compelled to sleep with her brother-in-law, presumably to make her pure and free from the curse of being a widow or being revisited by the dead husband. It is nobody’s business to know if the woman or brother-in-law is HIV positive. In other cases, the late husband’s brother, cousin or other male relation not minding the health status of either parties inherit the widow. There is also the practice in some villages whereby elderly and most often single men without children marry younger women of child bearing age to bear children for them, with no regard to the health status of the man or the woman.
 Female circumcision:- Despite international efforts and national and official attempts to outlaw it, female circumcision is still practiced in some parts of Cameroon especially the South and North West Provinces. It is considered an important cultural practice, which curbs immoral behaviour and gives guidance to the initiates on important matters of life. In most cases, older women carryout the circumcision as it is the case with scarification, the same instruments are employed for several cases with no regard to the health risks involved. Any campaign against AIDS that does not consider these cultural practices is not likely to succeed. But the question is, can the people be removed from these ingrained practices? How far are we ready to change these practices?
 Prostitution:- It constitutes another setting in which women have little power to protect themselves from HIV. Most young girls involved in prostitution are ignorant of the risk of contracting the HIV virus. Sexual exploitation of young girls in Cameroon is the most pernicious form of child abuse. While for some women, prostitution is a choice, many turn to occasional or steady sex work as an alternative to fight poverty, exchanging sex for basic necessities of life for themselves and their children. Some of these women are either divorcees or widows who because of inequitable laws and customs have lost their property as well as their husband’s earning power. The situation of economically unstable and not too viable single mother is most alarming.
 No Female Control Preventive Methods:- The Cameroonian woman does not have a suitable barrier method available for HIV prevention. The much-talked about female condom is little known and not yet widely used. Those who have heard of it or seen it complain that usage is not easy at all for various reasons. The only widely available effective method to prevent the heterosexual transmission of HIV is the male condom. There are no counseling services in the rural communities. Even where they exist most women will not seek HIV related counseling, testing, treatment and support for fear of being identified or face discrimination in case of positive result.
 Ignorance:- Most Cameroonian women do not have access to formal education for varied reasons and despite the available facilities. They therefore have very little information about their own bodies and education about HIV/AIDS. There are quite a large number of women who haven’t heard anything yet about AIDS and they remain ignorant of its existence, not to talk of its prevention.
Haven exposed the dangers of some of our cultures and tradition; it is obvious that the situation calls for a remedy – the empowerment of the rural woman. The Cameroonian woman needs to be empowered to have greater access/ control over the rate of HIV infections. Suggestions for such empowerment include:-
a) Literacy and adult education programmes as an important first approach. Steps should be taken to ensure that all, if not; most women in the very remote and rural areas of Cameroon and Africa in particular have education and information in its simplest form about basic human rights and HIV/AIDS. Women should be taught and encourage to negotiate safer sex and to say “NO” and be able to resist unsafe sex.
b) Women should be exposed to more income generating projects to allow the more autonomy. An economically independent woman does not need to exchange sex for her basic needs.
c) More healthy, available and accessible counseling services should be provided for women.
d) A forum should be made available for women to come together to expose cultural taboos that are detrimental to women’s health.
e) Female – controlled and easy to use preventive methods should be developed.
f) There should also be policy changes, particularly specific anti-discriminatory provisions for greater protection of women’s rights and increase economic independence and legal status. This should include a greater political voice for women.

HIV/AIDS AND MEDICAL CARE
The universal declaration of Human Rights in its Article 25 (1), the Cameroon 1996 constitution and WHO charter in its article 1, states that it is an individual’s inalienable right to get medical care when he is sick. Right now, the human race is perplexed by the HIV epidemic which has no vaccine or cure. The testing for HIV virus should be voluntary. It is an individual’s right to refuse to go for testing but such refusal is morally wrong where medical institution may want to conduct this test for statistical purposes, the consent of the blood donor / patient should be sought. It will be a medical malpractice if a doctor or a health institution conducts an HIV test on anyone without his consent. It has been poorly argued that for statistical purposes patients may be screened without their knowledge. Such an argument is unfounded and is in violation of the right of the patient, since the health status of an individual is a personal matter. HIV/AIDS is not a contagious illness. We have already seen that HIV could be contracted through coming in contact with HIV contaminated blood, semen or breast milk through blood infusions, blood contact, sexual intercourse, sharing needles or syringe. Therefore a doctor or medical institution that isolates HIV/AIDS patients may be liaised for discrimination and causing additional emotional pain and suffering. Is being HIV positive patient not enough punishment?
One can even classify such isolation, as punitive if the patient has contagious HIV related diseases. Why would anyone punish an HIV/AIDS patient? It is an actionable tort when a patient is given HIV contaminated blood or treated with HIV unspecialized medical instruments.
Antiretroviral drugs can reduce the level of HIV in blood and also treat HIV related infections, but in Cameroon, many infected persons especially those in rural communities have no access to these ARV’s. It is estimated that in many developing countries and Africa in particular, four out of every five person visit traditional health practitioners and use traditional treatments. Traditional healers already treat large numbers of people living with HIV and AIDS. It is therefore important to look into this area of healthcare. It is also important to improve the approaches to working with traditional doctors, this can improve HIV prevention and care services while continuing to advocate for improved access to modern medicine and treatment.
To help the Cameroonian population in the rural areas and most developing countries at large, medical officers should come up with programmes to train traditional health practitioners on the necessity of sterilizing blades and other sharp objects they use in administering their treatment, so as to minimize the risk of HIV infection. Appropriate training encourages traditional health practitioners to replace harmful practices or myths about HIV with safer practices. They should discourage the practice of witchcraft by not classifying the AIDS symptoms as caused by witchcraft. These traditional healers should be encouraged to promote sexual abstinence among youths and fidelity within married adults. Such values often agree with traditional beliefs about the causes of sexually transmitted infections and other illnesses and it is now recognized that reduction in the number of sex partners is a powerful factor in reducing HIV transmission. To pass on proper training in handling HIV/ AIDS cases to our traditional healers, workshops and seminars should be organized by the Ministry of Public Health. As far as legal issues are concerned, traditional healers must be made to understand that accusing people of being responsible of one’s misfortune or illness or death through witchcraft without proof is a defamatory statement and could lead to criminal prosecution.
AIDS AND EMPLOYMENT
An HIV infected person has right as all human beings do, amongst them, the right to work. The universal declaration of Human Rights states that “Every person shall have the right and obligations to work”. AIDS is an issue of human rights and it is necessary to protect the right of working men and women living with the virus, these rights inter alia are access to productive and decent work, social security benefits, health care and the right to confidentiality. In Cameroon, HIV/AIDS infected persons have had their rights to work trampled upon by employers. Applications of job seekers have been rejected because of their HIV/AIDS status. Working men and women with HIV/AIDS have suffered all forms of discrimination at their job sites. Gaining access to employment is a major problem for HIV infected persons. A number of companies now require job seekers to pass an HIV/AIDS test before employment. Men and women including those with HIV/AIDS have the right to work in condition of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. One of an employee’s greatest nightmares begins when he is known or presumed to be HIV positive. He suffers all forms of discrimination. He is isolated by his colleagues. In the private sector, he may be passed over for promotion and is not taken into consideration for training programmes no matter how hard he may work. At worst, the employer dismisses him. When one looks at the discrimination going on in the world of work against HIV/AIDS person, one might fear that in the long run such persons will be completely kept out of work. However this might not be the case as there are some employers who are beginning to realize that these person’s rights as human beings must be respected. Nevertheless, such actions will not go a long way in protecting the rights of HIV/AIDS persons on the whole, as some of the important issues to be addressed by the proposed law that will be of help to people living with AIDS are:
 A person should not be discriminated against with regard to terms and conditions of employment because of his HIV status, if he is otherwise qualified.
 The law should prohibit an employer from inquiring about an employee or job applicant medical status. This law should also provide for reasonable accommodations to enable HIV/AIDS workers perform the essential function of a job, that is, flexible working hours, time off for doctors appointment etc. this law must also lay out the various remedies available for HIV/AIDS persons where their rights have been violated. It doesn’t suffice to lay out the rights.
HIV/AIDS AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
In many African countries and Cameroon included there is an experience of growth in HIV/AIDS and this is evidence and increasing in ages between 18 to 40 years. This age bracket is considered to be that when the woman is sexually active and of child bearing age. Women are one of the fastest growing populations being infected with HIV and the number of AIDS cases among women is increasing steadily each year. Because the time of infection to developing AIDS can be variably long, many of these women acquire HIV in their teens or as soon as they become sexually active. Women are more at risk to be infected as male to female transmission is estimated to be eight times more likely than female to male. This is so because HIV is more easily transmitted from men to women due to greater expose surface area in the female genital track. Women do not as yet wear the condom, therefore they are not capable of protecting themselves from HIV infections. They can therefore not rely on their own skills, attitudes and behaviors regarding condom use. They have to rely on their ability to convince their partner to use a condom. Gender, culture and power may be barriers to maintaining safer sex practices. Women are disproportionally represented among the poor and the less likely to have access to health care services. Most of them will have to struggle for daily survival and may have no concern about HIV infections when having sexual relations and the impact may be felt many years later. Like many people in committed relationships, women might find intimacy in their relationships to be more important than protection against HIV. Usually, unsafe sex may be linked to emotional, social and possibly financial dependence on men. Women are furthermore vulnerable to be infected with HIV because they are mostly passive partners in sexual relations and can not be heard to refuse sex to their husbands or partners even if infection is suspected. They are vulnerable and not in a position to avoid infection because they either do not receive preventive education or information or cannot act on it, and when infected are disempowered to cope with the impact. The woman’s subordinate status limits opportunities to be informed about HIV/AIDS making them more vulnerable to infections and impairing their ability to deal with possible consequences of infection which require care and support. Women some times can not negotiate safer sex or leave their partners because of social and legal norms and economic dependency norms that promote motherhood as the ideal form of self worth. This increases the vulnerability to HIV and constrains reproductive choices for HIV positive women. Double standard about chastity and fidelity means that many monogamously married women are powerless to avoid infection by their husband. For many women, many of their HIV diagnoses can carry with it the devastating assumptions that they can and will never have children. Many others receive their diagnoses while pregnant this is so because many women are not tested for HIV unless they become pregnant or ill. And some women infected with HIV may decide to have their babies while others chose to have a termination. The decision to terminate a pregnancy is very personal since the Cameroonian law allows for termination on grounds of ill health. This article is an attempt to look at the reproductive right of unborn child and to say that the woman infected with HIV can still become pregnant and have a baby. Being pregnant will not increase the chances of developing AIDS. Research has shown that pregnancy does not speed HIV disease progression. Yes, a woman with an HIV positive test result has a right to become pregnant. The unborn baby has a right to live not withstanding the fact that his mother is HIV positive and stands the risk of being infected with the virus. It has been scientifically proven that not all babies born to an infected mother will have the virus at the time of birth. All babies born to mothers with HIV are born with HIVanti bodies but babies who are not infected loose their anti bodies by the time they are 18 months old. There is a possibility of the decline in numbers of the perinatally infected infant. This is due to:
The implementation of new knowledge in perinatal HIV prevention and treatment for pregnant women with HIV infection. AZT is the most commonly used and approved therapy for preventing transmission from mother to child. Delivery by elective caesarean sections also reduces the risk of a baby becoming infected. It is usually best for a baby to be breast fed. However, if the mother has HIV, breastfeeding will increase the risk of her baby becoming infected. Therefore a mother with HIV may not have to breast feed as bottle feeding is a safer alternative. The reduction in HIV transmission from mother to infant with the use of anti HIV drugs has been a remarkable success story. This major advance can be shared if there is easy access to the necessary drugs, adequate prenatal care, improved nutrition and prevention of breast feeding by the mother. All pregnant women ought to benefit from the informed counseling of the potential risk and benefits of using an optional and potent anti HIV regimen during pregnancy and then be allowed to make their own decision, unfortunately, little is known about the long term effects of this compound to the child. Due to so many unanswered questions, any HIV positive woman who is pregnant or considering pregnancy should seek the care or an advice of a clinician with experience and or knowledge of the latest break through in HIV research, this ensure the best possible prenatal care and the best possible out come for both the mother and child.
WOMEN AND HIV/AIDS-APRAGMATIC APPROACH
The health and wellbeing of women every where is of great important in its own rights. It is also the key to the health and wellbeing of their, family, communities and societies .but every year, millions of women in developing countries die in pregnancy and /or child birth. HIV presents an enormous challenge to safe motherhood. In sub Saharan Africa, millions of pregnant women are HIV positive. Women with HIV are likely to have complication during pregnancy and/or delivery, or abortion. They are also more vulnerable to anemia, malaria, pneumonia and tuberculosis (TB)both HIV prevention and care is an essential part of safe motherhood maternity services could play a crucial role by improving for pregnant women with HIV/AIDS before, during and after pregnancy. Fewer resources will be needed if programs work together.
 The vulnerability element: while it is important for men’s own health, that they become more involved in HIV prevention and care, there are important benefits for women too. Some of this links to women’s heightened vulnerability to HIV infection others tie more closely to equality and equity in care. Women’s vulnerability to HIV transmission is particularly a matter of biology. because virginal tissues if fragile , particularly in younger women, during unprotected virginal intercourse, an HIV man is twice as likely , to transmit the virus to an uninfected woman as an HIV positive is to infect her male partner . Women also made vulnerable by men’s greater economics and social power and by unequal gender relations. It is men who generally decided when and with whom to have sex and whether to use condoms or not. This leaves women with little or no control over these exposure to the deadly Virus it is men too who are usually the perpetrators of sexual violence whether in war or civil unrest or within ongoing relationships. in 1999 during the follow-up to the Beijing Fourth World Conferences on women, the 43rd session of the United Nation Commission on the statues of women attention was drawn to the need to educate women and men particularly young people, with a view to promoting equal relationships between men and women and to encourage to accept their responsibilities in matters relating to sexuality, reproduction and child bearing.
 Prevention through sex: there are many ways preventing the sexual transmission of HIV between women and their partners these includes abstinence, mutual fidelity, sex that does not involve virginal or anal penetration and condom use. However most prevention massages are simplicity and not tailored to the complex, and often hidden reality of men’s relationships with women or other men National AIDS campaigns have promoted abstinence outside marriage and fidelity within it wit some success. However, abstinence for young men is difficult and a menu of risk reduction option needs to be offered. The consistence use of male and female and female condoms in virginal or and sex also protects HIV and STI’s. Condoms, however, are under used for a variety of reason. In casual or commercial sex, men’s condom use is more common than in marriage but still often inconsistent in a study that was conducted in Zimbabwe, some two years ago, men interviewed had sex with prostitutes on an average of seven times a month but only used Condoms in about half of those encounters. Studies in many other countires have confirmed that female condom is an alternatives which some men and women find more comfortable than the male version. Like the male condom the female version can also be used for anal intercourse. Female condoms are, however much more expensive and difficult to acquire and because they remain visible during intercourse they still require male consent. When condoms are not used the prevalence of unsafe sex before an outside marriage plus the lack of HIV testing, means that millions of couple around the world, do not know whether they are practicing safer sex or not. Except when the goal is contraception introducing condoms use in a regular relationship, can be difficult. One problem is the difficulty of acknowledging premarital or casual sex and discussing the possibility of infection. For couples who wish to have children, the challenged is compounded by the fact that condoms interfere with procreation. A great deal of HIV transmission occurs as a result.
 Reproductive rights and choices: all women, regardless of their HIV status have the rights to choice whether and when to have children a woman who knows she is HIV positive , needs information about the HIV related risk of pregnancy for her self and her baby and how they can be reduced. But she most still be free to make her own decisions about whether or not to have children and should be supported in her choice.
 Ensuring mother’s rights to be healthy: All women need care and advice to help them remain healthy during their pregnancy. Protect women from HIV. The only completely reliable way to stop mother to child transmission of HIV is to prevent young girls and women from becoming HIV positive.
 Promote safe sex: Even after becoming pregnant, women should continue to practice safe sex unless they are absolutely certain that their partner is not HIV positive. Continuing to use condoms will also prevent STI’s. Keeping to one sexual partner makes sex safe on the condition that the partner is faithful.
 Test for, and treat all infection: An essential part of care for a pregnant woman is to look for, ask about and treat any infection she might have, especially those who are HIV positive. It is difficult for many women to decide what to eat because of poverty, customs or their status-leaving them fewer choices. Education about which local foods are most nutritious and the importance of pregnant women being well fed need to be un going. Discourage smoking and the use of alcohol and other drugs. Smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and the use of some drugs and herbal remedies can harm the unborn child. HIV positive women need to be especially careful because anything that damages their health can lower C D 4 counts.
 Provide Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV: Many women knowing their HIV status will help them make decisions that reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to their babies. The counselor might be a health worker such as a mid wife or a nurse, or may be a lay person. Peer counselors such as people who are themselves HIV positive. Can be very valuable.
 Points for Action:
 Gender awareness: promote understanding of the way in which gender stereotypes and expectation affects women and men. Support works that enhance gender equality and equity. Encourage discussion about the way girls are brought up and are expected to behave.
 Sexual communication and Negotiations: Encourage women to talk about sex with their partners enhance women’s capacity to determine when, where, and whether to have sex or not. Enhance both men and women access to appropriate sources to information, counseling and support. Promote greater understanding and acceptance of HIV/AIDS.
 Support and Care: Help women in their role as mother and providers of care and support within the family and community at large.
HUMAN RIGHTS, HIV/AIDS AND THE WOMAN
At the dawn of a new century, we still look at the future dominated by the deadly disease, which just a few decades ago were totally unknown. It may be shocking to know that over 75% of those infected with HIV live in the developing world, to which Cameroon belong. In this section, we will be considering the AIDS pandemic and HIV and how it affects women and children and what we can do about it.
1. The physiology of the woman: The mere fact that one is a woman has been proven, to make that person more vulnerable to contracting AIDS. Studies have confirmed that there is greater transmissibility of HIV from male to female. It has been estimated through research that the woman’s risk of being infected by HIV is at least twice that of a man. This is largely due to their physiological make up which has an extensive area of mucous membrane through which the virus get into the vaginal and to the cervix. Younger women, especially teenagers even run a greater risk due to their immature cervix and relatively low vaginal mucous. Production which are suspected to prevent less of a hindrance to HIV.
2. Childhood Marriages: In Cameroon like most African countries, young girls are given out to marriage as early as twelve years or even sooner. A girl child find herself married to a man who has maybe two other wives or children older than herself. He therefore has been sexually active for much longer and it is quite possible that he is already infected with HIV and as such, the girl child is of a very disadvantaged and pitiful position because as soon as soon as she indulges in sexual intercourse with her supposed husband, she finds herself with HIV.
3. Reproductive Health of Women: The fact that women carry pregnancies and are very dedicated during this period, makes them more vulnerable to epidemic. With complicated pregnancies and the need for blood transmission, the possibility of being infected is greater.
4. Labour Migration: Labour migration has been known to facilitate the spread of the disease with the woman again as the victim. Labour migration usually separates couples and leads to the establishment of temporarily migrant communities which are usually dominated by single sex most often man. This usually creates a market for prostitution as such; men have the money and need sex, so they are ready to pay for it. The examples are alive in Cameroon as we notice that wherever there has been the construction of roads, involving expatriate companies, who are Caucasians, we find a sudden prevalence of (mulatto) children (half-cast) which goes to demonstrate the sexual involvement of these workers in the community. The presence of these children is evidence that intercourse was done with no precaution. These types of women are far more prone to being infected with HIV.
5. Gender Inequality: Women in developing countries especially Cameroon and Africa at large are economically disadvantaged due to poor education, early marriages and no skill training which render them mostly unemployed. They are therefore dependent on men economically, which limits their choice on matters relating to health and sexuality. Also, the woman’s low social status and cultural demands which compares her to be always submissive to the male in sexual relations, further hampers her from controlling her sex life, she can not be heard to insist on the use of condoms. Also, the marital system of Polygamy which is prevalent in our towns and villages has the women at a disadvantaged position, as the husband goes from wife to wife can be infected by one wayward wife and the other wives will automatically be infected.
6. Women’s Attitude towards AIDS: The attitude of the woman herself in Cameroon to the issue of AIDS is quite alarming and a cause for concern. A study carried out with some female sex workers in Kumba, in the South West Province of Cameroon reveals that they all agree that AIDS exist, but they are doing nothing to protect themselves especially when the men are ready to pay huge sums of money. Some say they never use a condom with such clients the reason is simple. To these women, AIDS is not a reality as of now. For them, AIDS is something that affects other people not them. In their complacency, they feel out of the reach of AIDS. This non challence with which women in Cameroon have embraced the issue of AIDS requires that something more has to be done and urgently to raise awareness especially among female sex workers, female student on the dangers of AIDS and the fact that it is real.
7. Human Rights and Health: The universal declaration of Human Rights of 1948 gave the rights to every one to have a living standard sufficient to ensure one and his family good health as concerns food, clothing, housing, medical care and social services. Also, article 12 of the International Covenant on Economy, Social and Cultural rights also recognizes the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. These documents are the best legal and ideological weapons for protecting legal rights and autonomy of an individual. It therefore follows that for women to enjoy their human rights relating to health the following must be done;
 There has to be a cultural change which gives the woman the status of a partner in her marriage and not sub servant to her husband even on issues which concerns her health.
 There also has to be a free medical screening of HIV in all of the main towns of Cameroon where women can be encouraged at no cost to check themselves. For now, the cost of an HIV screening in Cameroon is 500 FRS ($1). This is still expensive.
 Empowerment of the woman economically is very important as it will make her independent to be able to control her sexuality if women are empowered economically, (by giving them some skills and small short term loans), they will find satisfaction in life and not continue to sell sex for a living.
 There has been a steep drop in our standards of morality. Infact, nowadays, you find high school and university girls kept by more than one “sugar daddies” who finance their acquired high taste. We call on the judges to do more in this area of moral rectitude to the girls and women whom the men have taken advantage of their vulnerability.
HIV/AIDS AND SOCIAL CONTROL
In the absence of a vaccine or cure, prevention is the only feasible strategy for fighting the HIV epidemic. This message of prevention has been preached for years, yet the spread of HIV virus is still on the increase. The estimated cumulative number of HIV infections worldwide has risen. About 80 - 90% is thought to be sexually transmitted. So has the prevention work?
The rise of the infection in developing countries seems to indicate a massive defeat of international response. However, as nobody knows the real virulence of HIV, of what would have happened with no planned prevention intervention, the score has to remain open. It may be that all the information, education and communication efforts and all the blood testing and counseling have infact prevented a much more devastating explosion internationally or in a certain local/national areas. Even without knowing precisely the impact of prevention effort on the spread of global HIV, the challenge remains in the absence of a vaccine prevention interventions will remain the key to HIV control. The information, education and communication approaches in the fight against HIV have stressed the change of behaviour in relation to sexual attitudes. Those who are sexually active are advised to adopt sexual behaviors that reduce the risk of infection. The intervention to break the chain of transmission is seen basically as a technique to physical barriers like condoms, behavioral barriers like the abstinence or partner reduction, to stop the passage of the virus from one person to another. Youths have been identified as the target of the information and education campaigns. To stop these youths from behaving sexually as they did in the past became the prime task of the prevention of all sexual transmission. Although it is true that in the end, each individual who acts sexually has to take responsibility for his/her action, it is nevertheless obvious that sexual behavior and consumption patterns are strongly influenced by gender, social, cultural and economic factors. What a given society regards as sexually right or wrong as a taboo, deviant or normal is decided by the individual actor, and not by a set of norms and values to which different gratifications and sanctions are attached. For example, in Africa the social inequality between men and women is most responsible for the spread of the virus. Women, especially youths generally lack the social power to set the terms of sexual relationships. Social isolation and lack of education limits their knowledge of prevention behavior. Young girls and women living in poverty are often enticed or coerced to trade sex for support or social promotion and maybe forced into prostitution or polygamous marriages, why inheritance and societal promotion and concentration of the male infidelity are factors which have been identified as favourable in the transmission of the virus and the AIDS disease. As a result of these factors, which centres largely on the vulnerability of a woman to HIV infection, the complete success of the prevention method a major break through is conceptual thinking has been negative. Therefore, a shift in emphasis must take place from concentration on individual behavioral change to addressing the social and cultural structure of sexual relations and the individual as part of a community and a network. In doing so, the state or community should also enhance the ability of women to control their sexual relationships. Men and women should talk openly about sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. The state or community should also encourage men to take care of themselves, their partners and families. Our society is plagued with some men who are irresponsible in every conceivable way. They have a denial syndrome and they blame everything on the woman. Our society also suffers from some promiscuous married women in the rural and urban cities, who have discriminate extra marital sex as a routine. The state or community must provide good and quality education of sexual health; HIV/AIDS and life preserving skills for youths in and out of schools.

HIV/AIDS, uma aproximação detalhada
Automatically translated into Portuguese thanks to WorldLingo
O AIDS
do PREFÁCIO está sendo considerado como uma da doença ravaging de todas as vezes. O fato que como na data não há nenhuma cura sabida, faz o vírus mais frightening do que sempre. A doença estêve ao redor por sobre 30 anos, mas é uma maravilha que alguns povos (juventude no detalhe) são hearing justo sobre ele. Sua origem é já não de toda a conseqüência se é uma punição para nosso immorality ou o que sempre é, cessa de ser da relevância como se tem agora como vítimas, o mais inocente isto é. bebês e juventudes.
A crise do AIDS é agora a crise dos países tornando-se e do mundo, especialmente África. O syndrome clínico é o inimigo o mais grande a esta de doença fatal e a maioria devastating, porque as pessoas infected continuam a espalhar a infecção.
A mudança Behavioral, a aceitação por aquelas infected e sua cooperação são a única maneira para lutar a propagação deste vírus.

PREAMBLE
HIV/AIDS. É um affliction ou um curse? Que é este vírus que está destruindo o havoc em nossas sociedade e mentes científicas confundindo?
Nós fomos ditos por cientistas que o HIV está para o vírus humano do Immunodeficiency e o AIDS está para o Syndrome imune adquirido da deficiência, que é o último estágio da doença.
Se você for positivo do HIV, você infected com o vírus e seu corpo reage produzindo antibodies do HIV. Se você tiver o acesso a um teste de sangue do HIV, mostrará estes anti corpos.
Entretanto uma vez e o indivíduo infected com HIV, ele faz exame de uma determinada quantidade de tempo antes que o organismo desenvolva antibodies, conseqüentemente há um determinado da “período janela” quando uma pessoa infected testará o negativo. Este período da janela dura para frequentemente entre quatro semanas e seis meses, em casos excepcionais mesmo mais por muito tempo. Durante este período todo o HIV pessoas infected é infectious.
A ciência médica mostrou aquela, algumas semanas após a infecção; um minority de pessoas infected experimenta alguns sintomas agudos, frequentemente despercebidos.
Lá após, todo o HIV infected pessoas experimenta um período longo sem doenças sérias típicas o período “asymptomatic” so-called. Este período pode durar diversos anos.
Durante este período asymptomatic, as pessoas infected podem transmitir o vírus a outro. Após este período, os primeiros sintomas do rompimento para a defesa imune parecem no formulário do determinadas doenças que foram consultadas como ao complexo relacionado AIDS. O estágio final do AIDS “completamente fundido” da doença, segue quando uma pessoa infected HIV desenvolve um ou mais das infecções “opportunistic” e ou de cancers. As doenças são chamadas opportunistic porque fazem exame da vantagem da oportunidade apresentada pelo sistema imune enfraquecido. Enfraquecer-se progressivo do organismo resulta finalmente na morte do paciente. Nenhuma cura (e nenhum vaccination de encontro) de infecções de HIV ou de AIDS foram descobertos ainda.
As drogas gostam de Efavirenz (EFV), de Delavirdine (DLV), de Nevirapine (NVP), de AZT/3TC (Combivir), de AZT/3TC/ABC (Trizivir), de Zidovudine (AZT) e de Didanosine (DDI) quando usado na combinação ou com o outro medication pode tratar ou melhorar a condição e a qualidade de vida médicas da pessoa infected.
Estas drogas trabalham abaixando a quantidade de HIV no sangue (carga viral) e aumentam o número de pilhas do lymphocyte CD4, um tipo de pilha imune no sangue. Os cientistas têm-nos dito também que o HIV pode ser transmitido através
do  Tendo sexo desprotegido com alguém que é positivo do HIV. Aproximadamente 80 a 90 por cento das infecções são pensados para ser transmitidos sexually.
 Compartilhando de syringes e injetando o equipamento que não sterilized corretamente.
 Contaminando o equipamento médico que não sterilized nem não foram usadas corretamente em povos.
 Sendo dado as transmissões do sangue que infected com HIV.
 Insemination fornecedor com semen infected HIV.
 Transmissão vertical do HIV da mãe ao bebê durante a gravidez, o nascimento da criança ou o peito - alimentando. HIV/AIDS está em um rampage deve dentro países tornando-se e República dos Camarões no detalhe. Matou muitos e está matando a geração jovem e resourceful deste mundo.
África é agora uma zona endemic que uma possa comparar a uma zona da guerra. Ninguém está livre - você é uma vítima do vírus ou uma vítima da perda do parente, vizinhos, amigo ou um conhecimento reivindicado pelo vírus. Nós encontramos as vítimas que foram colocadas fora do trabalho para razões da saúde ou contas médicas elevadas. Ninguém pronuncia o nome temido do vírus como a causa real da dispensa. É sussurrado somente. O medo prendeu os corações dos homens e a raiva consumiu alguma daquelas que foram positivo declarado do HIV. Juntaram forças com o vírus do monster para infect tantos como povos inocentes unsuspecting antes que morram. A taxa do prevalence (7.2) de HIV/AIDS em República dos Camarões spurred um escrever em HIV/AIDS, em desenvolvimento etc. das direitas humanas. para sensitize as juventudes de República dos Camarões e além e trazê-las às edições claras que as vítimas do vírus, dos doutores médicos, e das instituições (público e confidencial) podem ser enfrentadas com. Desde que HIV/AIDS é uma doença nova, as leis de República dos Camarões não refletem o conhecimento médico atual ou algum dos problemas socio-legais que se tornaram em conseqüência de HIV/AIDS, etc. Desde que nós somos falar de direitas humanas e a lei com relação às vítimas de HIV/AIDS, é necessário saber que direitas humanas e a lei é
As direitas humanas podem ser definem como as réguas que são iguais e inalienable e elas é assegura a dignidade se a raça humana. Estas réguas são a fundação da liberdade; justiça e paz no mundo asseguram seres humanos aprecíam a liberdade do discurso e da opinião, e a liberdade do medo e querem-nos.
A arte 25 (1) da declaração universal de direitas humanas “estipula que cada tem as direitas a um padrão de viver adequado para a saúde e o bem estar dhimself e sua família, including o alimento, a roupa, a carcaça e cuidado médico, e serviços sociais necessários e a direita à segurança no evento do desemprego, da doença, da inabilidade, do widowhood e da falta de velhice, ou outra dos meios de subsistência nas circunstâncias além de seu controle. Com consideração ao acima é essencial que as direitas humanas estejam protegidas pela régua de lei, se o homem não dever ser compelido para ter o recourse, como um último recurso, à rebelião de encontro ao tyranny e ao oppression.

A PROTEÇÃO DOS PACIENTES de HIV/AIDS DE ENCONTRO à discriminação
da DISCRIMINAÇÃO de encontro àquelas que vivem com HIV/AIDS é lugar comum em nossa sociedade. É um dos abusos os mais significativos das direitas humanas na área de HIV/AIDS. Impede a participação e a integração cheias dos povos que vivem com o HIV/Aids na comunidade.
A discriminação pode qualquer um ser direta ou indireta. A discriminação direta ocorre onde uma pessoa trata outra menos favoràvel do que uma terceira pessoa seria tratada em circunstâncias comparáveis.
A discriminação indireta na uma mão ocorre onde as condições ou a exigência unreasonable, tal como o HIV imperativo que testa, são aplicadas com uma proporção substancialmente mais elevada da pessoa de um status diferente, deve comply com do que pessoas do mesmo status a que a pessoa que reivindica ter sido discriminado de encontro.
As áreas de discriminação incluem a união, o emprego, a instrução, o tratamento médico, a acomodação, o immigration/emigration e o diverso outro.
Deve-se anotar que o HIV não está transmitido ocasional. Um exemplo da transmissão ocasional é a infecção da gota, que ocorre com sneezing, coughing ou compartilhar de utensílios.
A discriminação deve conseqüentemente ser proibida de encontro às pessoas com status percebido ou suspeitado real do HIV, e o remédio legal o mais eficaz é o enactment da legislação geral da discriminação que proíbe os seres irrelevant unfair da distinção feitos na terra de HIV/AIDS.
Deve-se anotar que em empreender terminar a discriminação em tais terras, os estados estão obrigados proteger indivíduos das autoridades públicas bye da discriminação não somente, mas também o setor confidencial e os indivíduos confidenciais em atividades públicas.
Reduzir o preconceito de encontro a PLWHA é importante e prático porque remove as barreiras ao diagnóstico adiantado e ao tratamento. As atitudes Discriminatory podem conseqüentemente ser mudadas decretando leis anti-discriminatory e protetoras no parliament, com a instrução, o treinamento e os meios e assegurar o procedimento administrativo eficaz para o alojamento das queixas de encontro a tais atitudes.
Em República dos Camarões a discriminação e o stigmatization de encontro aos povos que vivem com HIV/AIDS são muito comuns. O governo através de seu pessoal de saúde, de NGOs e de alguns corpos confidenciais tem com os lectures e os programas dos meios tentados educar e sensitize o público nas maneiras possíveis de contrair a doença. Isto está em um bocado para parar espalhar da doença e para desanimar atitudes discriminatory para pacientes de HIV/AIDS mas a discriminação existe ainda e há ainda muito a ser feito para eliminá-lo completamente ou eradicate.
a) Atitudes discriminatory em mudança através dos parliaments: o remédio legal o mais eficaz é o enactment da legislação anti discriminatory do general que proíbe a distinção unfair e irrelevant que está sendo feita em terras especificadas de encontro ao PLWHA. As oficinas foram prendidas em alguns países para levantar a consciência da edição de HIV/AIDS e para sensitize políticos às edições da direita humana.
Estas oficinas foram bem sucedidas em criar um clima non da discriminação e o openness no parliament. Está em tais oficinas que os participants que vivem com membros ou amigos da família que são HIV infected podem publicamente reconhecer seu relacionamento com estas pessoas infected. Estes podem mudar as atitudes discriminatory de outros participants e assim pavimentar a maneira para a passagem fácil através dos parliaments de leis anti discriminatory. No parliament de alguns países criaram um commission para non a discriminação de encontro às pessoas infected HIV whilst outros corpos parliamentary têm o trabalho com a outra organização do AIDS para lutar este a discriminação. A legislatura, em uma oferta para lutar a discriminação de encontro a PLWHA poderia permitir “a ação Affirmative” por exemplo uma comunidade que o grupo pode dar a preferência ao emprego aos povos positivos do HIV porque são membros de uma classe protegida que seja sujeitada à discriminação geral.
Evidente, os padrões de fornecer a discriminação devem ser dirigidos pela legislação ou o exemplo, a legislatura poderia fazer a inabilidade somente uma do AIDS do HIV/de diversas razões para fazer um ato discriminatory; este sozinho deve ser suficiente moer a convicção em um argumento instituído de encontro ao indivíduos, corporaçõ, ou corpo para discriminar de encontro àqueles que vive com HIV/AIDS.
A legislatura poderia também decretar as leis, que permitem uma conexão ocasional melhor que a prova da conduta entre a conduta e o HIV/AIDS/inabilidade discriminatory a ser uma exigência a encontrou uma cura.
O Parliament poderia também assegurar a criação de procedimentos administrativos eficazes para alojar queixas e assegurar a existência do independent informou e avenidas rápidas para o redress tal como o commission das direitas humanas quais têm procedimentos especiais para rapidamente seguir as caixas onde os complainants são terminal mal. Algumas destas queixas seguradas corretamente desanimarão a discriminação. Os remédios reconhecem pelo parliament devem existir para a discriminação systemic pelos empregadores das companhias especialmente melhor que o exemplo simples dos indivíduos, que limitaram a aplicação.
Emprego, sendo uma área principal onde as atitudes discriminatory são lugar comum de encontro àquelas que vivem com HIV/AIDS, equipamento imperativo que indica que a pessoa empregou se puder executar as exigências inerentes do trabalho.
b) Atitude Discriminatory em mudança através do Judiciary: Em alguns países, o judiciary foi alvejado como um instrumento em mudar as atitudes discriminatory associadas com o HIV/AIDS. As oficinas foram organizadas para sensitize juizes e criar a consciência das edições de HIV/AIDS que podem emergir nas cortes por exemplo. ação instituída por PLWHA ou em seu interesse de encontro aos indivíduos ou em cooperação para atitudes discriminatory para elas.
c) Atitudes discriminatory em mudança pelos estados: o estado pode também mudar atitudes discriminatory de encontro aos povos que vivem com o HIV/AIDS com a instrução, o treinamento, e os meios. O estado, usando uma escala larga dos meios tais como películas, a televisão, o rádio, etc. poderia junto com entidades apropriadas tais como os grupos dos meios, NGO, dispositivo e a programação distribuída para promover e uphold o respeito para a direita e a dignidade dos povos com HIV/AIDS e membros do grupo vulnerável tais programas deve visar dispelling mitos e suposições, sobre viver com o HIV/AIDS descrevendo o como amigos, parentes, colegas, vizinhos e sócios. Tal coragem deve também reforçar o reassurance a respeito das modalidades de transmissão do vírus e da segurança do contato social diário.
Os efeitos negativos das atitudes da discriminação e do stigmatization associados com o HIV/AIDS não podem ser excesso emfatizado. Os povos que vivem com o vírus do HIV podem viver vidas razoavelmente longas e produtivas, particularmente com avanço recente no tratamento antiretroviral.
A tentativa de excluir prematuramente os povos que vivem com o vírus do workforce é unfair e uma ruptura de direitas humanas. São também potencial uneconomical se puderem arbitrariamente excluir a pessoa a mais qualificada de uma posição.
Estas atitudes discriminadoras devem ser desanimadas e mudado. Aqueles que vivem com o vírus necessitam ser e sensação protegida do stigmatization e da discriminação por suas comunidades. Para que estas medidas protegidas sejam executadas e o feltro desejado do impacto, necessidade os esforços concerted não somente do estado sozinho, ou o parliament, mas todos no setor confidencial e público promover a distribuição larga e ongoing de programas creativos da instrução, do treinamento e dos meios projetam explicitamente mudar atitudes da discriminação e do stigmatization de encontro a HIV/AIDS à compreensão e à aceitação.
O protetor do Confidentiality
do confidentiality é extraído da base larga aceitou universal o princípio de uma pessoa é direito à privacidade. Uma direita que seja aprovada judicial como um protetor da apropriação unwarranted de one personalidade, publicizing de umas casos confidenciais com que o público não tem nenhum interesse legitimate. Esta é uma direita legal independente do indivíduo e sua violação constitui um tort. O decano Prosser, em seu trabalho no tort, distinguiu quatro categorias de torts embraced dentro das direitas da privacidade, confidentiality que é um de tais. Uma direita que seja predita em cima da garantia constitutional da vida, liberdade e a perseguição da inspiração extraindo da felicidade da declaração universal das direitas humanas, que uphold as direitas inalienable e sacred da pessoa, pode-se dizer que quando a lei garante a uma a direita apreciar sua vida, um presente a ele algo mais do que apenas a direita respirar. A liberdade que dirige da lei natural e reconhece pelos constitutions nacionais inclui a direita viver enquanto uma escolhe assim por muito tempo como essa escolha não interfere com a direita da outra ou do público. É dentro deste espírito que as leis internacionais como enshrined na declaração universal de direitas humanas garantem a direita à privacidade com a lei como o cão de guarda. O Confidentiality entretanto distingue-se de todas as outras direitas da privacidade naquela, se levanta do relacionamento fisuciário de que flui as divulgações reveladas em uma plataforma da confiança, a confiança e a fé boa e o candour scrupulous que requer.
O relacionamento paciente do médico confidential cai dentro desta categoria. O Confidentiality permite uma troca de informação intimate que facilita o cuidado apropriado e o diagnóstico correto. O dever do médico constitui um protetor protetor de encontro ao intrusion não desejado de outro. Com o advent do vírus do HIV, a maioria de hospitais upholding fortemente o princípio do confidentiality desenvolveram as senhas que podem somente ser interpretadas pelos profissionais médicos eles mesmos para indicar o vírus. Infact the health care provider is set to own the medical records but the patient owns the information with the records.
The principle of confidentiality is not absolute Ethical, legal and statutory obligations may permit physicians to disclose information when legally requested by the court or for the purpose of legal investigations or referred to him in his capacity as a medical expert. At a minimum health care professionals have an ethical duty to inform patients prior to testing, as well as upon receipt of result that the, information obtained may have familiar implications. A person tested positive with the HIV virus automatically puts the wife/husband at risk. In such case exceptional disclosures are permissible when: -
 Attempts to encourage disclosure on the part of patients have failed
 The harm is highly likely to occur and if serious, imminent and foreseeable.
 The “at risk” relatives are identifiable and
 The disease is preventable

WOMEN’S VULNERABILITY TO HIV/AIDS IN CAMEROON
Of the 18million people living in Cameroon, about 52% are girls and women belonging to diverse cultures and religions. These women or girls represent a fascinating weave of modernity and tradition, progress and backwardness. A common stand that runs through this weaves is that of inequality between the privilege and not so privilege, between urban and rural, between men and women. The woman however have continued to make strides towards equality with men; whenever they are educated able to generate income and enjoy equal protection under the law, they are in a position to have some control over their economic, social and personal life. However, these goals are still remote for millions of Cameroonians who are vulnerable to HIV infections. This vulnerability is no doubt due to the number of factors
a) Biological Vulnerability; this applies generally to all women, the Cameroonian women inclusive. It is gathered from several sources that the risk of being infected with HIV as with other transmissible diseases during unprotected sexual intercourse, is as much as two to four times higher for women than men. This is because, as compared to men, women have a larger mucosal surface exposed during intercourse to their partner’s secretion. Since semen that is infected contains a higher concentration of the virus than a woman’s sexual secretions, this makes male to female transmission more efficient than female to male. In young girls their physiological immune cervix and scant secretion puts up fewer barriers to HIV so that they are at even greater biological risk. Tearing and bleeding during sexual intercourse whether from rough sex, rape, or prior genital mutilation (female circumcision), multiplies the risk of HIV infections in women. Anal intercourse practiced by some women as a means of preserving virginity or avoiding risk of pregnancy, often tears the delicate tissue and affords easy entry of the virus.
Another biological factor of great importance is an untreated sexually transmitted infection (STI)
in either partner, which multiplies the risk of HIV transmission by up to 10-fold.
Women are also epidemically vulnerable through blood transfusion during pregnancy or child birth.
b) Social vulnerability; social vulnerability despite constitutional and legislative guarantees, the unequal states of women is greatly manifested in almost all social aspects. For most Cameroonian women, their social standing and interaction in a male dominated society greatly contributed to the deadly diseases. The situation is such that most men expect sex with any woman who receives their support resulting in sexual subordination thus creating a very unhealthy atmosphere for AIDS prevention .Social attitudes are such that initiative and decision making in sex is left to the dominants males. Thus most women have no skills to resist or say no to unwanted and unsafe sex. Another issue of concern is the growing demand for younger sex partners, the sugar daddy phenomenon where old men offer young girls gifts and huge sums of money in exchange for sex. In other instances sex is the “currency” for pass grades, jobs opportunities. The high rate of promiscuity and acceptable infidelity is dangerous fertile grounds for women’s vulnerability.
c) Economic Vulnerability: due to the economic situation and circumstances, women’s autonomy is crippled. Lacking economic resources of their own, most women are vulnerable because they depend on the on men for support. In almost all cases men expect sex with any woman who receives their supports. Being fearful of abandonment or violence on the part of their male partners, they have little or no control over how and when they have sex and when and hence over the risk of becoming infected with HIV. In some areas, women have several male partners who provide support for their children’s needs and other necessities. The drastic cut in salaries in the 90’s and the economic crisis having dealt most Cameroonians a blow, women’s dependence on men’s support drastically increased. Furthermore, women also face a double burden relative to the epidemic. They are not only more vulnerable than men to acquiring the infection, but they also bear the greatest responsibility in providing care to infected family members.
1) Cultural and Traditional Practices: most of the campaigns on the fight against HIV/AIDS have so far been focused on orthodox means such as multiple sex partners , sharing of needles, blood transfusion and congenial infection from an infected mother to an unborn child among others. Research have shown that rooted in people’s cultures and traditional practices in Cameroon as in other African countries, are practice that are more dangerous potentials means of spreading the dreaded Virus. Some of these practices involve skin cut, lesions, wife inheritance, and widowhood rights, tribal marks, body scarification, tattoos, blood letting and female circumcision as explain below.
 Scarification by native / traditional doctors; this practice is pervasive amongst most Cameroonian even the elites. People still secretly visit these native doctors for charms and native powers to induce diverse kinds of favors such as promotion, monetary rewards, and insurance against perceived enemies including witches and wizards. Most native doctors satisfy these discrete but pervasive wishes by scarifying their clients and applying substances believed to possess powers to produce the desired results. There is the practice of scarifying the face in most tribes leaving terrible and sometimes very frightful and embarrassing tribal marks. The truth is that the surgical knives, blades, broken bottles, or sharp edged stones often used by these native doctors and elders of these tribes are not sterilized and the same tools are used on as many clients as possible. In the course of these practices, there is inevitable blood transfusion, a channel of contracting the HIV virus
 Widowhood rites / Wife Inheritance: In many African countries and Cameroonian tribes, a widow is compelled to sleep with her brother-in-law, presumably to make her pure and free from the curse of being a widow or being revisited by the dead husband. It is nobody’s business to know if the woman or brother-in-law is HIV positive. In other cases, the late husband’s brother, cousin or other male relation not minding the health status of either parties inherit the widow. There is also the practice in some villages whereby elderly and most often single men without children marry younger women of child bearing age to bear children for them, with no regard to the health status of the man or the woman.
 Female circumcision:- Despite international efforts and national and official attempts to outlaw it, female circumcision is still practiced in some parts of Cameroon especially the South and North West Provinces. It is considered an important cultural practice, which curbs immoral behaviour and gives guidance to the initiates on important matters of life. In most cases, older women carryout the circumcision as it is the case with scarification, the same instruments are employed for several cases with no regard to the health risks involved. Any campaign against AIDS that does not consider these cultural practices is not likely to succeed. But the question is, can the people be removed from these ingrained practices? How far are we ready to change these practices?
 Prostitution:- It constitutes another setting in which women have little power to protect themselves from HIV. Most young girls involved in prostitution are ignorant of the risk of contracting the HIV virus. Sexual exploitation of young girls in Cameroon is the most pernicious form of child abuse. While for some women, prostitution is a choice, many turn to occasional or steady sex work as an alternative to fight poverty, exchanging sex for basic necessities of life for themselves and their children. Some of these women are either divorcees or widows who because of inequitable laws and customs have lost their property as well as their husband’s earning power. The situation of economically unstable and not too viable single mother is most alarming.
 No Female Control Preventive Methods:- The Cameroonian woman does not have a suitable barrier method available for HIV prevention. The much-talked about female condom is little known and not yet widely used. Those who have heard of it or seen it complain that usage is not easy at all for various reasons. The only widely available effective method to prevent the heterosexual transmission of HIV is the male condom. There are no counseling services in the rural communities. Even where they exist most women will not seek HIV related counseling, testing, treatment and support for fear of being identified or face discrimination in case of positive result.
 Ignorance:- Most Cameroonian women do not have access to formal education for varied reasons and despite the available facilities. They therefore have very little information about their own bodies and education about HIV/AIDS. There are quite a large number of women who haven’t heard anything yet about AIDS and they remain ignorant of its existence, not to talk of its prevention.
Haven exposed the dangers of some of our cultures and tradition; it is obvious that the situation calls for a remedy – the empowerment of the rural woman. The Cameroonian woman needs to be empowered to have greater access/ control over the rate of HIV infections. Suggestions for such empowerment include:-
a) Literacy and adult education programmes as an important first approach. Steps should be taken to ensure that all, if not; most women in the very remote and rural areas of Cameroon and Africa in particular have education and information in its simplest form about basic human rights and HIV/AIDS. Women should be taught and encourage to negotiate safer sex and to say “NO” and be able to resist unsafe sex.
b) Women should be exposed to more income generating projects to allow the more autonomy. An economically independent woman does not need to exchange sex for her basic needs.
c) More healthy, available and accessible counseling services should be provided for women.
d) A forum should be made available for women to come together to expose cultural taboos that are detrimental to women’s health.
e) Female – controlled and easy to use preventive methods should be developed.
f) There should also be policy changes, particularly specific anti-discriminatory provisions for greater protection of women’s rights and increase economic independence and legal status. This should include a greater political voice for women.

HIV/AIDS AND MEDICAL CARE
The universal declaration of Human Rights in its Article 25 (1), the Cameroon 1996 constitution and WHO charter in its article 1, states that it is an individual’s inalienable right to get medical care when he is sick. Right now, the human race is perplexed by the HIV epidemic which has no vaccine or cure. The testing for HIV virus should be voluntary. It is an individual’s right to refuse to go for testing but such refusal is morally wrong where medical institution may want to conduct this test for statistical purposes, the consent of the blood donor / patient should be sought. It will be a medical malpractice if a doctor or a health institution conducts an HIV test on anyone without his consent. It has been poorly argued that for statistical purposes patients may be screened without their knowledge. Such an argument is unfounded and is in violation of the right of the patient, since the health status of an individual is a personal matter. HIV/AIDS is not a contagious illness. We have already seen that HIV could be contracted through coming in contact with HIV contaminated blood, semen or breast milk through blood infusions, blood contact, sexual intercourse, sharing needles or syringe. Therefore a doctor or medical institution that isolates HIV/AIDS patients may be liaised for discrimination and causing additional emotional pain and suffering. Is being HIV positive patient not enough punishment?
One can even classify such isolation, as punitive if the patient has contagious HIV related diseases. Why would anyone punish an HIV/AIDS patient? It is an actionable tort when a patient is given HIV contaminated blood or treated with HIV unspecialized medical instruments.
Antiretroviral drugs can reduce the level of HIV in blood and also treat HIV related infections, but in Cameroon, many infected persons especially those in rural communities have no access to these ARV’s. It is estimated that in many developing countries and Africa in particular, four out of every five person visit traditional health practitioners and use traditional treatments. Traditional healers already treat large numbers of people living with HIV and AIDS. It is therefore important to look into this area of healthcare. It is also important to improve the approaches to working with traditional doctors, this can improve HIV prevention and care services while continuing to advocate for improved access to modern medicine and treatment.
To help the Cameroonian population in the rural areas and most developing countries at large, medical officers should come up with programmes to train traditional health practitioners on the necessity of sterilizing blades and other sharp objects they use in administering their treatment, so as to minimize the risk of HIV infection. Appropriate training encourages traditional health practitioners to replace harmful practices or myths about HIV with safer practices. They should discourage the practice of witchcraft by not classifying the AIDS symptoms as caused by witchcraft. These traditional healers should be encouraged to promote sexual abstinence among youths and fidelity within married adults. Such values often agree with traditional beliefs about the causes of sexually transmitted infections and other illnesses and it is now recognized that reduction in the number of sex partners is a powerful factor in reducing HIV transmission. To pass on proper training in handling HIV/ AIDS cases to our traditional healers, workshops and seminars should be organized by the Ministry of Public Health. As far as legal issues are concerned, traditional healers must be made to understand that accusing people of being responsible of one’s misfortune or illness or death through witchcraft without proof is a defamatory statement and could lead to criminal prosecution.
AIDS AND EMPLOYMENT
An HIV infected person has right as all human beings do, amongst them, the right to work. The universal declaration of Human Rights states that “Every person shall have the right and obligations to work”. AIDS is an issue of human rights and it is necessary to protect the right of working men and women living with the virus, these rights inter alia are access to productive and decent work, social security benefits, health care and the right to confidentiality. In Cameroon, HIV/AIDS infected persons have had their rights to work trampled upon by employers. Applications of job seekers have been rejected because of their HIV/AIDS status. Working men and women with HIV/AIDS have suffered all forms of discrimination at their job sites. Gaining access to employment is a major problem for HIV infected persons. A number of companies now require job seekers to pass an HIV/AIDS test before employment. Men and women including those with HIV/AIDS have the right to work in condition of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. One of an employee’s greatest nightmares begins when he is known or presumed to be HIV positive. He suffers all forms of discrimination. He is isolated by his colleagues. In the private sector, he may be passed over for promotion and is not taken into consideration for training programmes no matter how hard he may work. At worst, the employer dismisses him. When one looks at the discrimination going on in the world of work against HIV/AIDS person, one might fear that in the long run such persons will be completely kept out of work. However this might not be the case as there are some employers who are beginning to realize that these person’s rights as human beings must be respected. Nevertheless, such actions will not go a long way in protecting the rights of HIV/AIDS persons on the whole, as some of the important issues to be addressed by the proposed law that will be of help to people living with AIDS are:
 A person should not be discriminated against with regard to terms and conditions of employment because of his HIV status, if he is otherwise qualified.
 The law should prohibit an employer from inquiring about an employee or job applicant medical status. This law should also provide for reasonable accommodations to enable HIV/AIDS workers perform the essential function of a job, that is, flexible working hours, time off for doctors appointment etc. this law must also lay out the various remedies available for HIV/AIDS persons where their rights have been violated. It doesn’t suffice to lay out the rights.
HIV/AIDS AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
In many African countries and Cameroon included there is an experience of growth in HIV/AIDS and this is evidence and increasing in ages between 18 to 40 years. This age bracket is considered to be that when the woman is sexually active and of child bearing age. Women are one of the fastest growing populations being infected with HIV and the number of AIDS cases among women is increasing steadily each year. Because the time of infection to developing AIDS can be variably long, many of these women acquire HIV in their teens or as soon as they become sexually active. Women are more at risk to be infected as male to female transmission is estimated to be eight times more likely than female to male. This is so because HIV is more easily transmitted from men to women due to greater expose surface area in the female genital track. Women do not as yet wear the condom, therefore they are not capable of protecting themselves from HIV infections. They can therefore not rely on their own skills, attitudes and behaviors regarding condom use. They have to rely on their ability to convince their partner to use a condom. Gender, culture and power may be barriers to maintaining safer sex practices. Women are disproportionally represented among the poor and the less likely to have access to health care services. Most of them will have to struggle for daily survival and may have no concern about HIV infections when having sexual relations and the impact may be felt many years later. Like many people in committed relationships, women might find intimacy in their relationships to be more important than protection against HIV. Usually, unsafe sex may be linked to emotional, social and possibly financial dependence on men. Women are furthermore vulnerable to be infected with HIV because they are mostly passive partners in sexual relations and can not be heard to refuse sex to their husbands or partners even if infection is suspected. They are vulnerable and not in a position to avoid infection because they either do not receive preventive education or information or cannot act on it, and when infected are disempowered to cope with the impact. The woman’s subordinate status limits opportunities to be informed about HIV/AIDS making them more vulnerable to infections and impairing their ability to deal with possible consequences of infection which require care and support. Women some times can not negotiate safer sex or leave their partners because of social and legal norms and economic dependency norms that promote motherhood as the ideal form of self worth. This increases the vulnerability to HIV and constrains reproductive choices for HIV positive women. Double standard about chastity and fidelity means that many monogamously married women are powerless to avoid infection by their husband. For many women, many of their HIV diagnoses can carry with it the devastating assumptions that they can and will never have children. Many others receive their diagnoses while pregnant this is so because many women are not tested for HIV unless they become pregnant or ill. And some women infected with HIV may decide to have their babies while others chose to have a termination. The decision to terminate a pregnancy is very personal since the Cameroonian law allows for termination on grounds of ill health. This article is an attempt to look at the reproductive right of unborn child and to say that the woman infected with HIV can still become pregnant and have a baby. Being pregnant will not increase the chances of developing AIDS. Research has shown that pregnancy does not speed HIV disease progression. Yes, a woman with an HIV positive test result has a right to become pregnant. The unborn baby has a right to live not withstanding the fact that his mother is HIV positive and stands the risk of being infected with the virus. It has been scientifically proven that not all babies born to an infected mother will have the virus at the time of birth. All babies born to mothers with HIV are born with HIVanti bodies but babies who are not infected loose their anti bodies by the time they are 18 months old. There is a possibility of the decline in numbers of the perinatally infected infant. This is due to:
The implementation of new knowledge in perinatal HIV prevention and treatment for pregnant women with HIV infection. AZT is the most commonly used and approved therapy for preventing transmission from mother to child. Delivery by elective caesarean sections also reduces the risk of a baby becoming infected. It is usually best for a baby to be breast fed. However, if the mother has HIV, breastfeeding will increase the risk of her baby becoming infected. Therefore a mother with HIV may not have to breast feed as bottle feeding is a safer alternative. The reduction in HIV transmission from mother to infant with the use of anti HIV drugs has been a remarkable success story. This major advance can be shared if there is easy access to the necessary drugs, adequate prenatal care, improved nutrition and prevention of breast feeding by the mother. All pregnant women ought to benefit from the informed counseling of the potential risk and benefits of using an optional and potent anti HIV regimen during pregnancy and then be allowed to make their own decision, unfortunately, little is known about the long term effects of this compound to the child. Due to so many unanswered questions, any HIV positive woman who is pregnant or considering pregnancy should seek the care or an advice of a clinician with experience and or knowledge of the latest break through in HIV research, this ensure the best possible prenatal care and the best possible out come for both the mother and child.
WOMEN AND HIV/AIDS-APRAGMATIC APPROACH
The health and wellbeing of women every where is of great important in its own rights. It is also the key to the health and wellbeing of their, family, communities and societies .but every year, millions of women in developing countries die in pregnancy and /or child birth. HIV presents an enormous challenge to safe motherhood. In sub Saharan Africa, millions of pregnant women are HIV positive. Women with HIV are likely to have complication during pregnancy and/or delivery, or abortion. They are also more vulnerable to anemia, malaria, pneumonia and tuberculosis (TB)both HIV prevention and care is an essential part of safe motherhood maternity services could play a crucial role by improving for pregnant women with HIV/AIDS before, during and after pregnancy. Fewer resources will be needed if programs work together.
 The vulnerability element: while it is important for men’s own health, that they become more involved in HIV prevention and care, there are important benefits for women too. Some of this links to women’s heightened vulnerability to HIV infection others tie more closely to equality and equity in care. Women’s vulnerability to HIV transmission is particularly a matter of biology. because virginal tissues if fragile , particularly in younger women, during unprotected virginal intercourse, an HIV man is twice as likely , to transmit the virus to an uninfected woman as an HIV positive is to infect her male partner . Women also made vulnerable by men’s greater economics and social power and by unequal gender relations. It is men who generally decided when and with whom to have sex and whether to use condoms or not. This leaves women with little or no control over these exposure to the deadly Virus it is men too who are usually the perpetrators of sexual violence whether in war or civil unrest or within ongoing relationships. in 1999 during the follow-up to the Beijing Fourth World Conferences on women, the 43rd session of the United Nation Commission on the statues of women attention was drawn to the need to educate women and men particularly young people, with a view to promoting equal relationships between men and women and to encourage to accept their responsibilities in matters relating to sexuality, reproduction and child bearing.
 Prevention through sex: there are many ways preventing the sexual transmission of HIV between women and their partners these includes abstinence, mutual fidelity, sex that does not involve virginal or anal penetration and condom use. However most prevention massages are simplicity and not tailored to the complex, and often hidden reality of men’s relationships with women or other men National AIDS campaigns have promoted abstinence outside marriage and fidelity within it wit some success. However, abstinence for young men is difficult and a menu of risk reduction option needs to be offered. The consistence use of male and female and female condoms in virginal or and sex also protects HIV and STI’s. Condoms, however, are under used for a variety of reason. In casual or commercial sex, men’s condom use is more common than in marriage but still often inconsistent in a study that was conducted in Zimbabwe, some two years ago, men interviewed had sex with prostitutes on an average of seven times a month but only used Condoms in about half of those encounters. Studies in many other countires have confirmed that female condom is an alternatives which some men and women find more comfortable than the male version. Like the male condom the female version can also be used for anal intercourse. Female condoms are, however much more expensive and difficult to acquire and because they remain visible during intercourse they still require male consent. When condoms are not used the prevalence of unsafe sex before an outside marriage plus the lack of HIV testing, means that millions of couple around the world, do not know whether they are practicing safer sex or not. Except when the goal is contraception introducing condoms use in a regular relationship, can be difficult. One problem is the difficulty of acknowledging premarital or casual sex and discussing the possibility of infection. For couples who wish to have children, the challenged is compounded by the fact that condoms interfere with procreation. A great deal of HIV transmission occurs as a result.
 Reproductive rights and choices: all women, regardless of their HIV status have the rights to choice whether and when to have children a woman who knows she is HIV positive , needs information about the HIV related risk of pregnancy for her self and her baby and how they can be reduced. But she most still be free to make her own decisions about whether or not to have children and should be supported in her choice.
 Ensuring mother’s rights to be healthy: All women need care and advice to help them remain healthy during their pregnancy. Protect women from HIV. The only completely reliable way to stop mother to child transmission of HIV is to prevent young girls and women from becoming HIV positive.
 Promote safe sex: Even after becoming pregnant, women should continue to practice safe sex unless they are absolutely certain that their partner is not HIV positive. Continuing to use condoms will also prevent STI’s. Keeping to one sexual partner makes sex safe on the condition that the partner is faithful.
 Test for, and treat all infection: An essential part of care for a pregnant woman is to look for, ask about and treat any infection she might have, especially those who are HIV positive. It is difficult for many women to decide what to eat because of poverty, customs or their status-leaving them fewer choices. Education about which local foods are most nutritious and the importance of pregnant women being well fed need to be un going. Discourage smoking and the use of alcohol and other drugs. Smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and the use of some drugs and herbal remedies can harm the unborn child. HIV positive women need to be especially careful because anything that damages their health can lower C D 4 counts.
 Provide Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV: Many women knowing their HIV status will help them make decisions that reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to their babies. The counselor might be a health worker such as a mid wife or a nurse, or may be a lay person. Peer counselors such as people who are themselves HIV positive. Can be very valuable.
 Points for Action:
 Gender awareness: promote understanding of the way in which gender stereotypes and expectation affects women and men. Support works that enhance gender equality and equity. Encourage discussion about the way girls are brought up and are expected to behave.
 Sexual communication and Negotiations: Encourage women to talk about sex with their partners enhance women’s capacity to determine when, where, and whether to have sex or not. Enhance both men and women access to appropriate sources to information, counseling and support. Promote greater understanding and acceptance of HIV/AIDS.
 Support and Care: Help women in their role as mother and providers of care and support within the family and community at large.
HUMAN RIGHTS, HIV/AIDS AND THE WOMAN
At the dawn of a new century, we still look at the future dominated by the deadly disease, which just a few decades ago were totally unknown. It may be shocking to know that over 75% of those infected with HIV live in the developing world, to which Cameroon belong. In this section, we will be considering the AIDS pandemic and HIV and how it affects women and children and what we can do about it.
1. The physiology of the woman: The mere fact that one is a woman has been proven, to make that person more vulnerable to contracting AIDS. Studies have confirmed that there is greater transmissibility of HIV from male to female. It has been estimated through research that the woman’s risk of being infected by HIV is at least twice that of a man. This is largely due to their physiological make up which has an extensive area of mucous membrane through which the virus get into the vaginal and to the cervix. Younger women, especially teenagers even run a greater risk due to their immature cervix and relatively low vaginal mucous. Production which are suspected to prevent less of a hindrance to HIV.
2. Childhood Marriages: In Cameroon like most African countries, young girls are given out to marriage as early as twelve years or even sooner. A girl child find herself married to a man who has maybe two other wives or children older than herself. He therefore has been sexually active for much longer and it is quite possible that he is already infected with HIV and as such, the girl child is of a very disadvantaged and pitiful position because as soon as soon as she indulges in sexual intercourse with her supposed husband, she finds herself with HIV.
3. Reproductive Health of Women: The fact that women carry pregnancies and are very dedicated during this period, makes them more vulnerable to epidemic. With complicated pregnancies and the need for blood transmission, the possibility of being infected is greater.
4. Labour Migration: Labour migration has been known to facilitate the spread of the disease with the woman again as the victim. Labour migration usually separates couples and leads to the establishment of temporarily migrant communities which are usually dominated by single sex most often man. This usually creates a market for prostitution as such; men have the money and need sex, so they are ready to pay for it. The examples are alive in Cameroon as we notice that wherever there has been the construction of roads, involving expatriate companies, who are Caucasians, we find a sudden prevalence of (mulatto) children (half-cast) which goes to demonstrate the sexual involvement of these workers in the community. The presence of these children is evidence that intercourse was done with no precaution. These types of women are far more prone to being infected with HIV.
5. Gender Inequality: Women in developing countries especially Cameroon and Africa at large are economically disadvantaged due to poor education, early marriages and no skill training which render them mostly unemployed. They are therefore dependent on men economically, which limits their choice on matters relating to health and sexuality. Also, the woman’s low social status and cultural demands which compares her to be always submissive to the male in sexual relations, further hampers her from controlling her sex life, she can not be heard to insist on the use of condoms. Also, the marital system of Polygamy which is prevalent in our towns and villages has the women at a disadvantaged position, as the husband goes from wife to wife can be infected by one wayward wife and the other wives will automatically be infected.
6. Women’s Attitude towards AIDS: The attitude of the woman herself in Cameroon to the issue of AIDS is quite alarming and a cause for concern. A study carried out with some female sex workers in Kumba, in the South West Province of Cameroon reveals that they all agree that AIDS exist, but they are doing nothing to protect themselves especially when the men are ready to pay huge sums of money. Some say they never use a condom with such clients the reason is simple. To these women, AIDS is not a reality as of now. For them, AIDS is something that affects other people not them. In their complacency, they feel out of the reach of AIDS. This non challence with which women in Cameroon have embraced the issue of AIDS requires that something more has to be done and urgently to raise awareness especially among female sex workers, female student on the dangers of AIDS and the fact that it is real.
7. Human Rights and Health: The universal declaration of Human Rights of 1948 gave the rights to every one to have a living standard sufficient to ensure one and his family good health as concerns food, clothing, housing, medical care and social services. Also, article 12 of the International Covenant on Economy, Social and Cultural rights also recognizes the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. These documents are the best legal and ideological weapons for protecting legal rights and autonomy of an individual. It therefore follows that for women to enjoy their human rights relating to health the following must be done;
 There has to be a cultural change which gives the woman the status of a partner in her marriage and not sub servant to her husband even on issues which concerns her health.
 There also has to be a free medical screening of HIV in all of the main towns of Cameroon where women can be encouraged at no cost to check themselves. For now, the cost of an HIV screening in Cameroon is 500 FRS ($1). This is still expensive.
 Empowerment of the woman economically is very important as it will make her independent to be able to control her sexuality if women are empowered economically, (by giving them some skills and small short term loans), they will find satisfaction in life and not continue to sell sex for a living.
 There has been a steep drop in our standards of morality. Infact, nowadays, you find high school and university girls kept by more than one “sugar daddies” who finance their acquired high taste. We call on the judges to do more in this area of moral rectitude to the girls and women whom the men have taken advantage of their vulnerability.
HIV/AIDS AND SOCIAL CONTROL
In the absence of a vaccine or cure, prevention is the only feasible strategy for fighting the HIV epidemic. This message of prevention has been preached for years, yet the spread of HIV virus is still on the increase. The estimated cumulative number of HIV infections worldwide has risen. About 80 - 90% is thought to be sexually transmitted. So has the prevention work?
The rise of the infection in developing countries seems to indicate a massive defeat of international response. However, as nobody knows the real virulence of HIV, of what would have happened with no planned prevention intervention, the score has to remain open. It may be that all the information, education and communication efforts and all the blood testing and counseling have infact prevented a much more devastating explosion internationally or in a certain local/national areas. Even without knowing precisely the impact of prevention effort on the spread of global HIV, the challenge remains in the absence of a vaccine prevention interventions will remain the key to HIV control. The information, education and communication approaches in the fight against HIV have stressed the change of behaviour in relation to sexual attitudes. Those who are sexually active are advised to adopt sexual behaviors that reduce the risk of infection. The intervention to break the chain of transmission is seen basically as a technique to physical barriers like condoms, behavioral barriers like the abstinence or partner reduction, to stop the passage of the virus from one person to another. Youths have been identified as the target of the information and education campaigns. To stop these youths from behaving sexually as they did in the past became the prime task of the prevention of all sexual transmission. Although it is true that in the end, each individual who acts sexually has to take responsibility for his/her action, it is nevertheless obvious that sexual behavior and consumption patterns are strongly influenced by gender, social, cultural and economic factors. What a given society regards as sexually right or wrong as a taboo, deviant or normal is decided by the individual actor, and not by a set of norms and values to which different gratifications and sanctions are attached. For example, in Africa the social inequality between men and women is most responsible for the spread of the virus. Women, especially youths generally lack the social power to set the terms of sexual relationships. Social isolation and lack of education limits their knowledge of prevention behavior. Young girls and women living in poverty are often enticed or coerced to trade sex for support or social promotion and maybe forced into prostitution or polygamous marriages, why inheritance and societal promotion and concentration of the male infidelity are factors which have been identified as favourable in the transmission of the virus and the AIDS disease. As a result of these factors, which centres largely on the vulnerability of a woman to HIV infection, the complete success of the prevention method a major break through is conceptual thinking has been negative. Therefore, a shift in emphasis must take place from concentration on individual behavioral change to addressing the social and cultural structure of sexual relations and the individual as part of a community and a network. In doing so, the state or community should also enhance the ability of women to control their sexual relationships. Men and women should talk openly about sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. The state or community should also encourage men to take care of themselves, their partners and families. Our society is plagued with some men who are irresponsible in every conceivable way. They have a denial syndrome and they blame everything on the woman. Our society also suffers from some promiscuous married women in the rural and urban cities, who have discriminate extra marital sex as a routine. The state or community must provide good and quality education of sexual health; HIV/AIDS and life preserving skills for youths in and out of schools.

HIV/AIDS ett omfattande att närma sig
Automatically translated into Swedish thanks to WorldLingo
PREFACEN
BISTÅR betraktas, som en av härja sjuka tajmar allra. Faktumet, som som datera på där, är ingen bekant bot, gör viruset mer skrämma än någonsin. Sjukan har varit omkring för över 30 år, men det är en under att några bemannar (ungdommen i synnerhet) är rättvis utfrågning om den. Dess beskärning är ej längre av någon följd, huruvida som det är en bestraffning för vår immorality eller vad det är någonsin, upphör för att vara av relevans som, om har nu som offer, den mest oskyldigen dvs. behandla som ett barn och ungdommar.
BISTÅR kris är nu krisen av ett u-land och världen, speciellt Afrika. Det kliniska syndromet är den mest stora fienden till denna dödliga och mest förödande sjuka, som infekterade personer fortsätter till spridning infektionen.
Beteende- ändring, godtagande vid smittade de och deras samarbete är det enda långt in mot som slåss spridningen av denna virus.

INLEDNING
HIV/AIDS. Är det en nöd eller en förbannelse? Är vad denna virus som havererar havoc i vårt samhälle, och att gäcka som är vetenskapligt, varar besvärad?
Vi har berättats av forskare att HIV-stativ för människaImmunodeficiencyvirus och BISTÅR stativ för det fångna immuna bristsyndromet, som är jumbon arrangerar av sjukdomen.
Om du är HIV-realiteten, smittas du med viruset, och ditt förkroppsliga reagerar, genom att producera HIV-antikroppar. Om du har att ta fram till ett HIV-blod, testa, det ska show som dessa förkroppsligar anti.
Emellertid en gång och individen smittas med HIV, det tar en bestämd tidsperiod, för organismen framkallar antikroppar, därför finns det en bestämd ”fönsterperiod”, när en ska infekterad person testar negation. Denna fönsterperiodjumbo för ofta mellan fyra veckor och halvår, i undantagsfall even longer. Under denna period är all HIV smittade personer smittsam.
Medicinsk vetenskap har visat det, några veckor efter infektion; en minoritet av infekterade personer erfar några akut tecken som ofta är obemärkt.
Där efter, erfar alla HIV smittade personer en lång period utan typiska allvarliga sjukdomar den so-called ”asymptomatic” perioden. Denna period kan vara flera år.
Under denna asymptomatic period är infekterade personer kompetent att överföra viruset till andra. Efter denna period verkar de första tecknen av söndringen för immunt försvar i form av bestämda illnesses som har setts till som BISTÅR det släkta komplex. Slutskedet av sjukdomen ”som blåsas mycket”, BISTÅR, följer, när en HIV smittad person framkallar one or more av ”de opportunistic” infektionerna och eller cancer. Sjukdomarna kallas opportunistic, därför att de tar fördel av tillfället som framläggas av den försvagade immunförsvaret. Den progressiva försvagningen av organismen resulterar slutligen i döden av den tålmodig. Ingen bot av (och ingen vaccination mot) HIV-infektioner eller BISTÅR har ännu upptäckts.
Droger gillar Efavirenz (EFV), Delavirdine (DLV), Nevirapine (NVP), AZT/3TC (Combivir), AZT/3TC/ABC (Trizivir), Zidovudine (AZT) och Didanosine (DDI) när de används i kombination eller med annan läkarbehandlingcanfest eller förbättrar läkarundersökningen villkorar och livskvalitet av den infekterade personen.
Dessa droger fungerar, genom att fälla ned beloppet av HIV i det virus- blod (ladda) och förhöjning numrera av celler för lymphocyten CD4, en typ av den immuna cellen i blod. Forskare har också berättat oss att HIV kan överföras till och med
 Ha oskyddat könsbestämma med någon som är HIV-realiteten. Omkring 80 till 90 procent av infektionerna tänks sexually för att överföras.
 Dela injektionssprutor och injicera utrustning som inte har riktigt steriliserats.
 Ha kontaminerad medicinsk utrustning som inte har riktigt steriliserats eller har använts på folk.
 Ges blodöverföringar som smittas med HIV.
 Donor insemination med infekterad semen för HIV.
 Lodlinjeöverföringen av HIV från fostrar för att behandla som ett barn under havandeskap, barnfödelse eller amning. HIV/AIDS är på ett raseri måste in ett u-land och Kamerun i synnerhet. Det har dödat många, och det dödar den ungdomliga och rådiga utvecklingen av denna värld.
Afrika är ett endemic zonplanerar nu vilken kan liken till en kriga zonplanerar. Ingen är fri - du är endera ett offer av viruset eller ett offer av förlust av släktingen, grann, vän eller en bekant som fordras av viruset. Vi finner offer som har lagts ut ur arbete för vård- resonerar eller kickläkarundersökningräkningar. Inget uttalar det fruktat namnger av viruset som det verkligt orsakar av friställningen. Det viskas endast. Skräck har gripit hjärtorna av manar, och ilska har konsumerat några av de som har varit den förklarade HIV-realiteten. De har sammanfogat styrkor med den gigantiska viruset för att smitta så många aningslöst oskyldigt folk, för de dör. Prevalencen klassar (7.2) av HIV/AIDS i Kamerun har sporrat en för att skriva på HIV/AIDS, mänsklig rättighetutveckling Etc. för att sensitize ungdommarna av Kamerun och det okända och för att komma med till det ljust utfärdar att offer av viruset, läkarundersökning manipulerar, och institutioner (både allmänhet och privat) kan vändas mot med. Sedan HIV/AIDS är en ny sjukdom, reflekterar Kamerunlagarna inte den medicinska kunskapen för strömmen eller någon av delagliga problemen, som har framkallat som ett resultat av HIV/AIDS, Etc. Sedan vi är samtal av mänsklig rättighet och lagen i förhållande till HIV-/AIDSoffer, är det nödvändigt att veta vilka mänsklig rättighet och lagen är
Mänsklig rättighet kan vara definierar som härskar som är jämbördiga, och inalienable och dem är ser till värdighet om människaracen. Dessa härskar är fundamentet av frihet; rättvisa och fred i världen ser till de människor tycker om yttrandefrihet och tro och frihet av skräck och önskar.
Konst 25 (1) av den universella förklaringen av mänsklig rättighet ”stipulerar att varje har rätterna till ett standart av uppehället som är adekvat för vård- och väl - vara av självt och hans familj, inklusive mat, bekläda, inhysa och medicinsk vård, och nödvändiga socialtjänst och rakt till säkerheten i händelsen av arbetslöshet, sjukdomen, handikappet, widowhooden och gamlingen eller annan brist av livelihooden i omständighetsdet okända som his kontrollerar. Med hänseenden till det ovannämnt är det nödvändigt att mänsklig rättighet skyddas av rättssäkerheten, om manen inte ska tvingas för att ha tillflykt, som en räddningsplanka, till revoltet mot tyranny och förtryck.

SKYDD AV HIV-/AIDSTÅLMODIG MOT DISKRIMINERING
diskriminering mot de som bor med HIV/AIDS, är förlägger vanligt i vårt samhälle. Det är ett av de viktigaste mänsklig rättighetmissbruken i området av HIV/AIDS. Det hindrar det fulla deltagande och integrationen av folk som bor med HIV/Aids i gemenskapen.
Diskriminering kan endera vara riktar eller indirekt. Rikta diskriminering uppstår var fester another för en person mindre välvilligt än en tredje skulle person har behandlats i jämförbara omständigheter.
Indirekt diskriminering uppstår å ena sidan, var oresonligt, villkorar, eller kravet, liksom ombudHIV som testar, appliceras med ett väsentligen högre proportionerar av person av en olik status, måste uppfyller med än personer av den samma statusen som personen som fordrar för att ha diskriminerats mot.
Områden av diskriminering inkluderar förbindelse, anställning, utbildning, medicinsk behandling, boende, invandring/emigration och flera andra.
Det bör noteras att HIV inte överförs tillfälligt. Ett exempel av den tillfälliga överföringen är liten droppeinfektion, som uppstår med att nysa, att hosta eller att dela utensils.
Diskriminering bör därför förbjudas mot personer med faktisk märkt eller misstänkt HIV-status, och de effektivaste lagliga botar är enactmenten av allmän diskrimineringlagstiftning som förbjuder orättvisa ovidkommande skillnadsbeings som göras på det slipat av HIV/AIDS.
Det bör noteras att, i att företa sig som avslutar diskriminering på sådan jordning, påstår är skyldigt att skydda individer från bye offentliga myndigheter för diskriminering inte endast, men också privat sektor och de privata individerna i offentliga aktiviteter.
Förminskande fördom mot PLWHA är viktig och praktisk, som den tar bort barriärer till tidig sortdiagnosen och behandling. Diskriminerande inställningar kan därför ändras av att anta som anti-är diskriminerande, och skyddslag i parlament, till och med utbildning, utbildning och massmedia och att se till den effektiva handläggningsrutinen för logi av klagomål mot sådan inställningar.
I Kamerun är diskriminering och stigmatizationen mot folk som bor med HIV/AIDS, mycket vanligt. Regeringen till och med dess vård- personaler, NGOs och något privat förkroppsligar har föreläser igenom, och massmedia programmerar tried för att utbilda och sensitize allmänheten på möjlighetvägen av att avtala sjukdomen. Detta är i a bet för att stoppa fördelningen av sjukdomen och för att avskräcka diskriminerande inställningar in mot HIV-/AIDStålmodig, men diskrimineringstillbilden finns, och det finns stilla mycket att göras för att avlägsna eller utrota den fullständigt.
a) Ändrande diskriminerande inställningar till och med parlament: de effektivaste lagliga botar är enactmenten av diskriminerande lagstiftning för generalen anti som förbjuder orättvis och ovidkommande skillnad som göras på specificerad jordning mot PLWHAEN. Seminarier har rymts i några länder till lönelyftmedvetenheten av HIV/AIDS utfärdar och sensitize politikar till mänsklig rättighet utfärdar.
Dessa seminarier har varit lyckade, i att skapa ett klimat av non diskriminering och öppenheten i parlament. Det är på sådan seminarier som deltagare som bor med familjemedlemmar eller vänner, som är, smittad HIV kan publicly bekräfta deras förhållande med dessa infekterade personer. Dessa kan ändra de diskriminerande inställningarna av andra deltagare och thus stenlägga långt för lätt passage till och med parlament av anti diskriminerande lagar. I parlament för några länder har skapat en kommission för non diskriminering mot HIV smittad personstund som annat parlamentariskt förkroppsligar har arbete med annat BISTÅR organisation för att slåss dessa diskriminering. Lagstiftande församling, i ett anbud som slåss diskriminering mot PLWHA, kunde möjliggöra ”kvotering” For example en gemenskap som gruppen kan ge preferens till anställning till HIV-realitetfolk, därför att de är medlemmar av skyddad klassificerar som har betvingats till allmän diskriminering.
Tydligen bör normal av att ge diskriminering tilltalas av lagstiftningen, eller exemplet, lagstiftande församling kunde göra HIV/BISTÅR handikapp endast ett av flera resonerar för att göra ett diskriminerande agerar; detta ensamt bör vara tillräckligt till den slipade övertygelsen i ett instiftat fall mot individer, korporation, eller förkroppsliga för att diskriminera mot de som bor med HIV/AIDS.
Lagstiftande församling kunde också anta lagar, som tillstånd en tillfällig anslutning i stället för preparerar av uppförande mellan det diskriminerande uppförandet och HIVEN/AIDS/handikappet för att vara ett krav att grunda en bot.
Parlamentet kunde också se till skapelsen av effektiva handläggningsrutiner för att inkvartera klagomål, och att se till existensen av vilden informerade och snabba avenyer för redress liksom mänsklig rättighetkommissionen vilket ha speciala tillvägagångssätt för att fasta spårningfall var complainantsna är terminally sjuk. Några av dessa ska klagomål som riktigt behandlas, avskräcker diskriminering. Botar känner igen vid parlamentet bör finnas för systemic diskriminering av arbetsgivare för företag speciellt i stället för enkelt individfall, som har begränsat applikation.
Anställning och att vara ett huvudsakligt område, var diskriminerande inställningar är vanligt, förlägger mot de som bor med HIV/AIDS, ombudutrustning som påstår att personen använde, om han är kompetent att utföra de naturliga kraven av jobbet.
b) Ändrande diskriminerande inställning till och med domarkåren: I några länder har domarkåren uppsätta som mål som en instrumentera, i att ändra diskriminerande inställningar som är tillhörande med HIV/AIDS. Seminarier har organiserats för att sensitize domare, och att skapa medvetenhet av HIV/AIDS utfärdar som kan dyka upp i domstolarna e.g. handling som instiftas av PLWHA eller på deras vägnar mot individer eller samarbete för diskriminerande inställningar in mot dem.
c) Att ändra diskriminerande inställningar vid påstår: den statliga canen ändrar också diskriminerande inställningar mot folk som bor med HIV/AIDS till och med utbildning, utbildning och massmedia. Det statligt, genom att använda ett brett spänner av massmedia liksom filmar, televisionen, radiosände, etc. kunde samman med anslå enheter liksom massmediagrupper, NGO, apparat, och utdelat programmera som främjar och som försvarar respekten för rätten och värdigheten av folk med HIV/AIDS och medlemmar av den sådan sårbara gruppen, programmerar, bör syftet på att skingra myths och antaganden, om att bo med HIV/AIDS, genom att visa dem som vänner, släktingar, kollegor, grann och partners. Sådan kurage bör också förstärka uppmuntran som angår funktionslägena av överföringen av viruset och säkerheten av den dagliga sociala kontakten.
Negationen verkställer av inställningar av diskriminering, och stigmatizationen som är tillhörande med HIV/AIDS, kan inte vara över betonat. Folket som bor med HIV-viruset, är kompetent att bo rimligen långa och produktiva liv, bestämt med nytt för- i antiretroviral behandling.
Försök förtidigt att utesluta folk som bor med viruset från workforcen, är orättvist och en brytning av mänsklig rättighet. De är också potentiellt oekonomiska, om de kan godtyckligt utesluta den mest kvalificerade personen från en placera.
Dessa diskriminera inställningar måste avskräckas och ändras. De som bor med viruset, behöver att vara och känselförnimmelsen som skyddas från stigmatization och diskriminering av deras gemenskaper. För skyddade dessa mäter för att genomföras, och önskade får effekt klädde med filt, det behov de avtalade försöken inte endast av det statliga ensamt eller parlamentet, men alla i både den privata och offentliga sektoren som främjar den breda och pågående fördelningen av idérika utbildnings-, utbildnings- och massmediaprogram planlägger tydligt, att ändra inställningar av diskriminering och stigmatizationen mot HIV/AIDS till överenskommelse och godtagande.
Skydda av tystnadsplikt
tystnadsplikt dras från det brett baserar accepterade universal princip av en person är rakt till avskildhet. En rätt, som är juridiskt godkänd som en skydda från det obefogade anslaget av en ens personlighet, offentliggöra av en privat affärer som allmänheten har med inget legitimt bekymmer. Denna är en oberoende laglig rätt av individen, och dess kränkning utgör en kränkning. Dekan Prosser, i hans arbete av på kränkningen, distingerade fyra kategorier av kränkningar som omfamnas inom rätterna av avskildhet, tystnadsplikt som är en av sådan. En rätt, som förutsägs på den konstitutionella garantin av liv, frihet, och jakten av lyckan som drar inspiration från den universella förklaringen av mänsklig rättighet, som försvarar de inalienable och sakrala rätterna av personen, kan det sägas att när laggarantierna till en rakt till tyckaaen om hans liv, en gåva till honom något mer än precis rakt till andas. Friheten, som han kör från naturlag, och känner igen vid medborgare som konstitutioner inkluderar rakt till direkt, som en väljer så long som som primat inte störer med rätten av another eller allmänheten. Det är inom denna ande att landskamplagar som enshrined i den universella förklaringen av mänsklig rättighet garanterar rakt till avskildheten med lagen som vakthunden. Tystnadsplikt skiljer sig emellertid från alla andra rätter av avskildhet däri, den uppstår från fiduciary förhållande från som flödar avslöjanden som avslöjs på en plattform av förtroende, förtroende och den samvetsöm bra tron och candouren, som den kräver.
De tålmodiga förhållandenedgångarna för förtrolig läkare inom denna kategori. Tystnadsplikt lättare låter ett intimt utbyte av att göra för information anslår omsorg och korrekt diagnos. Läkarearbetsuppgiften utgör ett skyddande skyddar mot den oönskade inhoppen från andra. Med adventen av HIV-viruset har mest sjukhus som starkt försvarar principen av tystnadsplikt, framkallat lösenord som kan endast tolkas av de medicinska professionelna sig själv för att indikera viruset. Infact the health care provider is set to own the medical records but the patient owns the information with the records.
The principle of confidentiality is not absolute Ethical, legal and statutory obligations may permit physicians to disclose information when legally requested by the court or for the purpose of legal investigations or referred to him in his capacity as a medical expert. At a minimum health care professionals have an ethical duty to inform patients prior to testing, as well as upon receipt of result that the, information obtained may have familiar implications. A person tested positive with the HIV virus automatically puts the wife/husband at risk. In such case exceptional disclosures are permissible when: -
 Attempts to encourage disclosure on the part of patients have failed
 The harm is highly likely to occur and if serious, imminent and foreseeable.
 The “at risk” relatives are identifiable and
 The disease is preventable

WOMEN’S VULNERABILITY TO HIV/AIDS IN CAMEROON
Of the 18million people living in Cameroon, about 52% are girls and women belonging to diverse cultures and religions. These women or girls represent a fascinating weave of modernity and tradition, progress and backwardness. A common stand that runs through this weaves is that of inequality between the privilege and not so privilege, between urban and rural, between men and women. The woman however have continued to make strides towards equality with men; whenever they are educated able to generate income and enjoy equal protection under the law, they are in a position to have some control over their economic, social and personal life. However, these goals are still remote for millions of Cameroonians who are vulnerable to HIV infections. This vulnerability is no doubt due to the number of factors
a) Biological Vulnerability; this applies generally to all women, the Cameroonian women inclusive. It is gathered from several sources that the risk of being infected with HIV as with other transmissible diseases during unprotected sexual intercourse, is as much as two to four times higher for women than men. This is because, as compared to men, women have a larger mucosal surface exposed during intercourse to their partner’s secretion. Since semen that is infected contains a higher concentration of the virus than a woman’s sexual secretions, this makes male to female transmission more efficient than female to male. In young girls their physiological immune cervix and scant secretion puts up fewer barriers to HIV so that they are at even greater biological risk. Tearing and bleeding during sexual intercourse whether from rough sex, rape, or prior genital mutilation (female circumcision), multiplies the risk of HIV infections in women. Anal intercourse practiced by some women as a means of preserving virginity or avoiding risk of pregnancy, often tears the delicate tissue and affords easy entry of the virus.
Another biological factor of great importance is an untreated sexually transmitted infection (STI)
in either partner, which multiplies the risk of HIV transmission by up to 10-fold.
Women are also epidemically vulnerable through blood transfusion during pregnancy or child birth.
b) Social vulnerability; social vulnerability despite constitutional and legislative guarantees, the unequal states of women is greatly manifested in almost all social aspects. For most Cameroonian women, their social standing and interaction in a male dominated society greatly contributed to the deadly diseases. The situation is such that most men expect sex with any woman who receives their support resulting in sexual subordination thus creating a very unhealthy atmosphere for AIDS prevention .Social attitudes are such that initiative and decision making in sex is left to the dominants males. Thus most women have no skills to resist or say no to unwanted and unsafe sex. Another issue of concern is the growing demand for younger sex partners, the sugar daddy phenomenon where old men offer young girls gifts and huge sums of money in exchange for sex. In other instances sex is the “currency” for pass grades, jobs opportunities. The high rate of promiscuity and acceptable infidelity is dangerous fertile grounds for women’s vulnerability.
c) Economic Vulnerability: due to the economic situation and circumstances, women’s autonomy is crippled. Lacking economic resources of their own, most women are vulnerable because they depend on the on men for support. In almost all cases men expect sex with any woman who receives their supports. Being fearful of abandonment or violence on the part of their male partners, they have little or no control over how and when they have sex and when and hence over the risk of becoming infected with HIV. In some areas, women have several male partners who provide support for their children’s needs and other necessities. The drastic cut in salaries in the 90’s and the economic crisis having dealt most Cameroonians a blow, women’s dependence on men’s support drastically increased. Furthermore, women also face a double burden relative to the epidemic. They are not only more vulnerable than men to acquiring the infection, but they also bear the greatest responsibility in providing care to infected family members.
1) Cultural and Traditional Practices: most of the campaigns on the fight against HIV/AIDS have so far been focused on orthodox means such as multiple sex partners , sharing of needles, blood transfusion and congenial infection from an infected mother to an unborn child among others. Research have shown that rooted in people’s cultures and traditional practices in Cameroon as in other African countries, are practice that are more dangerous potentials means of spreading the dreaded Virus. Some of these practices involve skin cut, lesions, wife inheritance, and widowhood rights, tribal marks, body scarification, tattoos, blood letting and female circumcision as explain below.
 Scarification by native / traditional doctors; this practice is pervasive amongst most Cameroonian even the elites. People still secretly visit these native doctors for charms and native powers to induce diverse kinds of favors such as promotion, monetary rewards, and insurance against perceived enemies including witches and wizards. Most native doctors satisfy these discrete but pervasive wishes by scarifying their clients and applying substances believed to possess powers to produce the desired results. There is the practice of scarifying the face in most tribes leaving terrible and sometimes very frightful and embarrassing tribal marks. The truth is that the surgical knives, blades, broken bottles, or sharp edged stones often used by these native doctors and elders of these tribes are not sterilized and the same tools are used on as many clients as possible. In the course of these practices, there is inevitable blood transfusion, a channel of contracting the HIV virus
 Widowhood rites / Wife Inheritance: In many African countries and Cameroonian tribes, a widow is compelled to sleep with her brother-in-law, presumably to make her pure and free from the curse of being a widow or being revisited by the dead husband. It is nobody’s business to know if the woman or brother-in-law is HIV positive. In other cases, the late husband’s brother, cousin or other male relation not minding the health status of either parties inherit the widow. There is also the practice in some villages whereby elderly and most often single men without children marry younger women of child bearing age to bear children for them, with no regard to the health status of the man or the woman.
 Female circumcision:- Despite international efforts and national and official attempts to outlaw it, female circumcision is still practiced in some parts of Cameroon especially the South and North West Provinces. It is considered an important cultural practice, which curbs immoral behaviour and gives guidance to the initiates on important matters of life. In most cases, older women carryout the circumcision as it is the case with scarification, the same instruments are employed for several cases with no regard to the health risks involved. Any campaign against AIDS that does not consider these cultural practices is not likely to succeed. But the question is, can the people be removed from these ingrained practices? How far are we ready to change these practices?
 Prostitution:- It constitutes another setting in which women have little power to protect themselves from HIV. Most young girls involved in prostitution are ignorant of the risk of contracting the HIV virus. Sexual exploitation of young girls in Cameroon is the most pernicious form of child abuse. While for some women, prostitution is a choice, many turn to occasional or steady sex work as an alternative to fight poverty, exchanging sex for basic necessities of life for themselves and their children. Some of these women are either divorcees or widows who because of inequitable laws and customs have lost their property as well as their husband’s earning power. The situation of economically unstable and not too viable single mother is most alarming.
 No Female Control Preventive Methods:- The Cameroonian woman does not have a suitable barrier method available for HIV prevention. The much-talked about female condom is little known and not yet widely used. Those who have heard of it or seen it complain that usage is not easy at all for various reasons. The only widely available effective method to prevent the heterosexual transmission of HIV is the male condom. There are no counseling services in the rural communities. Even where they exist most women will not seek HIV related counseling, testing, treatment and support for fear of being identified or face discrimination in case of positive result.
 Ignorance:- Most Cameroonian women do not have access to formal education for varied reasons and despite the available facilities. They therefore have very little information about their own bodies and education about HIV/AIDS. There are quite a large number of women who haven’t heard anything yet about AIDS and they remain ignorant of its existence, not to talk of its prevention.
Haven exposed the dangers of some of our cultures and tradition; it is obvious that the situation calls for a remedy – the empowerment of the rural woman. The Cameroonian woman needs to be empowered to have greater access/ control over the rate of HIV infections. Suggestions for such empowerment include:-
a) Literacy and adult education programmes as an important first approach. Steps should be taken to ensure that all, if not; most women in the very remote and rural areas of Cameroon and Africa in particular have education and information in its simplest form about basic human rights and HIV/AIDS. Women should be taught and encourage to negotiate safer sex and to say “NO” and be able to resist unsafe sex.
b) Women should be exposed to more income generating projects to allow the more autonomy. An economically independent woman does not need to exchange sex for her basic needs.
c) More healthy, available and accessible counseling services should be provided for women.
d) A forum should be made available for women to come together to expose cultural taboos that are detrimental to women’s health.
e) Female – controlled and easy to use preventive methods should be developed.
f) There should also be policy changes, particularly specific anti-discriminatory provisions for greater protection of women’s rights and increase economic independence and legal status. This should include a greater political voice for women.

HIV/AIDS AND MEDICAL CARE
The universal declaration of Human Rights in its Article 25 (1), the Cameroon 1996 constitution and WHO charter in its article 1, states that it is an individual’s inalienable right to get medical care when he is sick. Right now, the human race is perplexed by the HIV epidemic which has no vaccine or cure. The testing for HIV virus should be voluntary. It is an individual’s right to refuse to go for testing but such refusal is morally wrong where medical institution may want to conduct this test for statistical purposes, the consent of the blood donor / patient should be sought. It will be a medical malpractice if a doctor or a health institution conducts an HIV test on anyone without his consent. It has been poorly argued that for statistical purposes patients may be screened without their knowledge. Such an argument is unfounded and is in violation of the right of the patient, since the health status of an individual is a personal matter. HIV/AIDS is not a contagious illness. We have already seen that HIV could be contracted through coming in contact with HIV contaminated blood, semen or breast milk through blood infusions, blood contact, sexual intercourse, sharing needles or syringe. Therefore a doctor or medical institution that isolates HIV/AIDS patients may be liaised for discrimination and causing additional emotional pain and suffering. Is being HIV positive patient not enough punishment?
One can even classify such isolation, as punitive if the patient has contagious HIV related diseases. Why would anyone punish an HIV/AIDS patient? It is an actionable tort when a patient is given HIV contaminated blood or treated with HIV unspecialized medical instruments.
Antiretroviral drugs can reduce the level of HIV in blood and also treat HIV related infections, but in Cameroon, many infected persons especially those in rural communities have no access to these ARV’s. It is estimated that in many developing countries and Africa in particular, four out of every five person visit traditional health practitioners and use traditional treatments. Traditional healers already treat large numbers of people living with HIV and AIDS. It is therefore important to look into this area of healthcare. It is also important to improve the approaches to working with traditional doctors, this can improve HIV prevention and care services while continuing to advocate for improved access to modern medicine and treatment.
To help the Cameroonian population in the rural areas and most developing countries at large, medical officers should come up with programmes to train traditional health practitioners on the necessity of sterilizing blades and other sharp objects they use in administering their treatment, so as to minimize the risk of HIV infection. Appropriate training encourages traditional health practitioners to replace harmful practices or myths about HIV with safer practices. They should discourage the practice of witchcraft by not classifying the AIDS symptoms as caused by witchcraft. These traditional healers should be encouraged to promote sexual abstinence among youths and fidelity within married adults. Such values often agree with traditional beliefs about the causes of sexually transmitted infections and other illnesses and it is now recognized that reduction in the number of sex partners is a powerful factor in reducing HIV transmission. To pass on proper training in handling HIV/ AIDS cases to our traditional healers, workshops and seminars should be organized by the Ministry of Public Health. As far as legal issues are concerned, traditional healers must be made to understand that accusing people of being responsible of one’s misfortune or illness or death through witchcraft without proof is a defamatory statement and could lead to criminal prosecution.
AIDS AND EMPLOYMENT
An HIV infected person has right as all human beings do, amongst them, the right to work. The universal declaration of Human Rights states that “Every person shall have the right and obligations to work”. AIDS is an issue of human rights and it is necessary to protect the right of working men and women living with the virus, these rights inter alia are access to productive and decent work, social security benefits, health care and the right to confidentiality. In Cameroon, HIV/AIDS infected persons have had their rights to work trampled upon by employers. Applications of job seekers have been rejected because of their HIV/AIDS status. Working men and women with HIV/AIDS have suffered all forms of discrimination at their job sites. Gaining access to employment is a major problem for HIV infected persons. A number of companies now require job seekers to pass an HIV/AIDS test before employment. Men and women including those with HIV/AIDS have the right to work in condition of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. One of an employee’s greatest nightmares begins when he is known or presumed to be HIV positive. He suffers all forms of discrimination. He is isolated by his colleagues. In the private sector, he may be passed over for promotion and is not taken into consideration for training programmes no matter how hard he may work. At worst, the employer dismisses him. When one looks at the discrimination going on in the world of work against HIV/AIDS person, one might fear that in the long run such persons will be completely kept out of work. However this might not be the case as there are some employers who are beginning to realize that these person’s rights as human beings must be respected. Nevertheless, such actions will not go a long way in protecting the rights of HIV/AIDS persons on the whole, as some of the important issues to be addressed by the proposed law that will be of help to people living with AIDS are:
 A person should not be discriminated against with regard to terms and conditions of employment because of his HIV status, if he is otherwise qualified.
 The law should prohibit an employer from inquiring about an employee or job applicant medical status. This law should also provide for reasonable accommodations to enable HIV/AIDS workers perform the essential function of a job, that is, flexible working hours, time off for doctors appointment etc. this law must also lay out the various remedies available for HIV/AIDS persons where their rights have been violated. It doesn’t suffice to lay out the rights.
HIV/AIDS AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
In many African countries and Cameroon included there is an experience of growth in HIV/AIDS and this is evidence and increasing in ages between 18 to 40 years. This age bracket is considered to be that when the woman is sexually active and of child bearing age. Women are one of the fastest growing populations being infected with HIV and the number of AIDS cases among women is increasing steadily each year. Because the time of infection to developing AIDS can be variably long, many of these women acquire HIV in their teens or as soon as they become sexually active. Women are more at risk to be infected as male to female transmission is estimated to be eight times more likely than female to male. This is so because HIV is more easily transmitted from men to women due to greater expose surface area in the female genital track. Women do not as yet wear the condom, therefore they are not capable of protecting themselves from HIV infections. They can therefore not rely on their own skills, attitudes and behaviors regarding condom use. They have to rely on their ability to convince their partner to use a condom. Gender, culture and power may be barriers to maintaining safer sex practices. Women are disproportionally represented among the poor and the less likely to have access to health care services. Most of them will have to struggle for daily survival and may have no concern about HIV infections when having sexual relations and the impact may be felt many years later. Like many people in committed relationships, women might find intimacy in their relationships to be more important than protection against HIV. Usually, unsafe sex may be linked to emotional, social and possibly financial dependence on men. Women are furthermore vulnerable to be infected with HIV because they are mostly passive partners in sexual relations and can not be heard to refuse sex to their husbands or partners even if infection is suspected. They are vulnerable and not in a position to avoid infection because they either do not receive preventive education or information or cannot act on it, and when infected are disempowered to cope with the impact. The woman’s subordinate status limits opportunities to be informed about HIV/AIDS making them more vulnerable to infections and impairing their ability to deal with possible consequences of infection which require care and support. Women some times can not negotiate safer sex or leave their partners because of social and legal norms and economic dependency norms that promote motherhood as the ideal form of self worth. This increases the vulnerability to HIV and constrains reproductive choices for HIV positive women. Double standard about chastity and fidelity means that many monogamously married women are powerless to avoid infection by their husband. For many women, many of their HIV diagnoses can carry with it the devastating assumptions that they can and will never have children. Many others receive their diagnoses while pregnant this is so because many women are not tested for HIV unless they become pregnant or ill. And some women infected with HIV may decide to have their babies while others chose to have a termination. The decision to terminate a pregnancy is very personal since the Cameroonian law allows for termination on grounds of ill health. This article is an attempt to look at the reproductive right of unborn child and to say that the woman infected with HIV can still become pregnant and have a baby. Being pregnant will not increase the chances of developing AIDS. Research has shown that pregnancy does not speed HIV disease progression. Yes, a woman with an HIV positive test result has a right to become pregnant. The unborn baby has a right to live not withstanding the fact that his mother is HIV positive and stands the risk of being infected with the virus. It has been scientifically proven that not all babies born to an infected mother will have the virus at the time of birth. All babies born to mothers with HIV are born with HIVanti bodies but babies who are not infected loose their anti bodies by the time they are 18 months old. There is a possibility of the decline in numbers of the perinatally infected infant. This is due to:
The implementation of new knowledge in perinatal HIV prevention and treatment for pregnant women with HIV infection. AZT is the most commonly used and approved therapy for preventing transmission from mother to child. Delivery by elective caesarean sections also reduces the risk of a baby becoming infected. It is usually best for a baby to be breast fed. However, if the mother has HIV, breastfeeding will increase the risk of her baby becoming infected. Therefore a mother with HIV may not have to breast feed as bottle feeding is a safer alternative. The reduction in HIV transmission from mother to infant with the use of anti HIV drugs has been a remarkable success story. This major advance can be shared if there is easy access to the necessary drugs, adequate prenatal care, improved nutrition and prevention of breast feeding by the mother. All pregnant women ought to benefit from the informed counseling of the potential risk and benefits of using an optional and potent anti HIV regimen during pregnancy and then be allowed to make their own decision, unfortunately, little is known about the long term effects of this compound to the child. Due to so many unanswered questions, any HIV positive woman who is pregnant or considering pregnancy should seek the care or an advice of a clinician with experience and or knowledge of the latest break through in HIV research, this ensure the best possible prenatal care and the best possible out come for both the mother and child.
WOMEN AND HIV/AIDS-APRAGMATIC APPROACH
The health and wellbeing of women every where is of great important in its own rights. It is also the key to the health and wellbeing of their, family, communities and societies .but every year, millions of women in developing countries die in pregnancy and /or child birth. HIV presents an enormous challenge to safe motherhood. In sub Saharan Africa, millions of pregnant women are HIV positive. Women with HIV are likely to have complication during pregnancy and/or delivery, or abortion. They are also more vulnerable to anemia, malaria, pneumonia and tuberculosis (TB)both HIV prevention and care is an essential part of safe motherhood maternity services could play a crucial role by improving for pregnant women with HIV/AIDS before, during and after pregnancy. Fewer resources will be needed if programs work together.
 The vulnerability element: while it is important for men’s own health, that they become more involved in HIV prevention and care, there are important benefits for women too. Some of this links to women’s heightened vulnerability to HIV infection others tie more closely to equality and equity in care. Women’s vulnerability to HIV transmission is particularly a matter of biology. because virginal tissues if fragile , particularly in younger women, during unprotected virginal intercourse, an HIV man is twice as likely , to transmit the virus to an uninfected woman as an HIV positive is to infect her male partner . Women also made vulnerable by men’s greater economics and social power and by unequal gender relations. It is men who generally decided when and with whom to have sex and whether to use condoms or not. This leaves women with little or no control over these exposure to the deadly Virus it is men too who are usually the perpetrators of sexual violence whether in war or civil unrest or within ongoing relationships. in 1999 during the follow-up to the Beijing Fourth World Conferences on women, the 43rd session of the United Nation Commission on the statues of women attention was drawn to the need to educate women and men particularly young people, with a view to promoting equal relationships between men and women and to encourage to accept their responsibilities in matters relating to sexuality, reproduction and child bearing.
 Prevention through sex: there are many ways preventing the sexual transmission of HIV between women and their partners these includes abstinence, mutual fidelity, sex that does not involve virginal or anal penetration and condom use. However most prevention massages are simplicity and not tailored to the complex, and often hidden reality of men’s relationships with women or other men National AIDS campaigns have promoted abstinence outside marriage and fidelity within it wit some success. However, abstinence for young men is difficult and a menu of risk reduction option needs to be offered. The consistence use of male and female and female condoms in virginal or and sex also protects HIV and STI’s. Condoms, however, are under used for a variety of reason. In casual or commercial sex, men’s condom use is more common than in marriage but still often inconsistent in a study that was conducted in Zimbabwe, some two years ago, men interviewed had sex with prostitutes on an average of seven times a month but only used Condoms in about half of those encounters. Studies in many other countires have confirmed that female condom is an alternatives which some men and women find more comfortable than the male version. Like the male condom the female version can also be used for anal intercourse. Female condoms are, however much more expensive and difficult to acquire and because they remain visible during intercourse they still require male consent. When condoms are not used the prevalence of unsafe sex before an outside marriage plus the lack of HIV testing, means that millions of couple around the world, do not know whether they are practicing safer sex or not. Except when the goal is contraception introducing condoms use in a regular relationship, can be difficult. One problem is the difficulty of acknowledging premarital or casual sex and discussing the possibility of infection. For couples who wish to have children, the challenged is compounded by the fact that condoms interfere with procreation. A great deal of HIV transmission occurs as a result.
 Reproductive rights and choices: all women, regardless of their HIV status have the rights to choice whether and when to have children a woman who knows she is HIV positive , needs information about the HIV related risk of pregnancy for her self and her baby and how they can be reduced. But she most still be free to make her own decisions about whether or not to have children and should be supported in her choice.
 Ensuring mother’s rights to be healthy: All women need care and advice to help them remain healthy during their pregnancy. Protect women from HIV. The only completely reliable way to stop mother to child transmission of HIV is to prevent young girls and women from becoming HIV positive.
 Promote safe sex: Even after becoming pregnant, women should continue to practice safe sex unless they are absolutely certain that their partner is not HIV positive. Continuing to use condoms will also prevent STI’s. Keeping to one sexual partner makes sex safe on the condition that the partner is faithful.
 Test for, and treat all infection: An essential part of care for a pregnant woman is to look for, ask about and treat any infection she might have, especially those who are HIV positive. It is difficult for many women to decide what to eat because of poverty, customs or their status-leaving them fewer choices. Education about which local foods are most nutritious and the importance of pregnant women being well fed need to be un going. Discourage smoking and the use of alcohol and other drugs. Smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and the use of some drugs and herbal remedies can harm the unborn child. HIV positive women need to be especially careful because anything that damages their health can lower C D 4 counts.
 Provide Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV: Many women knowing their HIV status will help them make decisions that reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to their babies. The counselor might be a health worker such as a mid wife or a nurse, or may be a lay person. Peer counselors such as people who are themselves HIV positive. Can be very valuable.
 Points for Action:
 Gender awareness: promote understanding of the way in which gender stereotypes and expectation affects women and men. Support works that enhance gender equality and equity. Encourage discussion about the way girls are brought up and are expected to behave.
 Sexual communication and Negotiations: Encourage women to talk about sex with their partners enhance women’s capacity to determine when, where, and whether to have sex or not. Enhance both men and women access to appropriate sources to information, counseling and support. Promote greater understanding and acceptance of HIV/AIDS.
 Support and Care: Help women in their role as mother and providers of care and support within the family and community at large.
HUMAN RIGHTS, HIV/AIDS AND THE WOMAN
At the dawn of a new century, we still look at the future dominated by the deadly disease, which just a few decades ago were totally unknown. It may be shocking to know that over 75% of those infected with HIV live in the developing world, to which Cameroon belong. In this section, we will be considering the AIDS pandemic and HIV and how it affects women and children and what we can do about it.
1. The physiology of the woman: The mere fact that one is a woman has been proven, to make that person more vulnerable to contracting AIDS. Studies have confirmed that there is greater transmissibility of HIV from male to female. It has been estimated through research that the woman’s risk of being infected by HIV is at least twice that of a man. This is largely due to their physiological make up which has an extensive area of mucous membrane through which the virus get into the vaginal and to the cervix. Younger women, especially teenagers even run a greater risk due to their immature cervix and relatively low vaginal mucous. Production which are suspected to prevent less of a hindrance to HIV.
2. Childhood Marriages: In Cameroon like most African countries, young girls are given out to marriage as early as twelve years or even sooner. A girl child find herself married to a man who has maybe two other wives or children older than herself. He therefore has been sexually active for much longer and it is quite possible that he is already infected with HIV and as such, the girl child is of a very disadvantaged and pitiful position because as soon as soon as she indulges in sexual intercourse with her supposed husband, she finds herself with HIV.
3. Reproductive Health of Women: The fact that women carry pregnancies and are very dedicated during this period, makes them more vulnerable to epidemic. With complicated pregnancies and the need for blood transmission, the possibility of being infected is greater.
4. Labour Migration: Labour migration has been known to facilitate the spread of the disease with the woman again as the victim. Labour migration usually separates couples and leads to the establishment of temporarily migrant communities which are usually dominated by single sex most often man. This usually creates a market for prostitution as such; men have the money and need sex, so they are ready to pay for it. The examples are alive in Cameroon as we notice that wherever there has been the construction of roads, involving expatriate companies, who are Caucasians, we find a sudden prevalence of (mulatto) children (half-cast) which goes to demonstrate the sexual involvement of these workers in the community. The presence of these children is evidence that intercourse was done with no precaution. These types of women are far more prone to being infected with HIV.
5. Gender Inequality: Women in developing countries especially Cameroon and Africa at large are economically disadvantaged due to poor education, early marriages and no skill training which render them mostly unemployed. They are therefore dependent on men economically, which limits their choice on matters relating to health and sexuality. Also, the woman’s low social status and cultural demands which compares her to be always submissive to the male in sexual relations, further hampers her from controlling her sex life, she can not be heard to insist on the use of condoms. Also, the marital system of Polygamy which is prevalent in our towns and villages has the women at a disadvantaged position, as the husband goes from wife to wife can be infected by one wayward wife and the other wives will automatically be infected.
6. Women’s Attitude towards AIDS: The attitude of the woman herself in Cameroon to the issue of AIDS is quite alarming and a cause for concern. A study carried out with some female sex workers in Kumba, in the South West Province of Cameroon reveals that they all agree that AIDS exist, but they are doing nothing to protect themselves especially when the men are ready to pay huge sums of money. Some say they never use a condom with such clients the reason is simple. To these women, AIDS is not a reality as of now. For them, AIDS is something that affects other people not them. In their complacency, they feel out of the reach of AIDS. This non challence with which women in Cameroon have embraced the issue of AIDS requires that something more has to be done and urgently to raise awareness especially among female sex workers, female student on the dangers of AIDS and the fact that it is real.
7. Human Rights and Health: The universal declaration of Human Rights of 1948 gave the rights to every one to have a living standard sufficient to ensure one and his family good health as concerns food, clothing, housing, medical care and social services. Also, article 12 of the International Covenant on Economy, Social and Cultural rights also recognizes the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. These documents are the best legal and ideological weapons for protecting legal rights and autonomy of an individual. It therefore follows that for women to enjoy their human rights relating to health the following must be done;
 There has to be a cultural change which gives the woman the status of a partner in her marriage and not sub servant to her husband even on issues which concerns her health.
 There also has to be a free medical screening of HIV in all of the main towns of Cameroon where women can be encouraged at no cost to check themselves. For now, the cost of an HIV screening in Cameroon is 500 FRS ($1). This is still expensive.
 Empowerment of the woman economically is very important as it will make her independent to be able to control her sexuality if women are empowered economically, (by giving them some skills and small short term loans), they will find satisfaction in life and not continue to sell sex for a living.
 There has been a steep drop in our standards of morality. Infact, nowadays, you find high school and university girls kept by more than one “sugar daddies” who finance their acquired high taste. We call on the judges to do more in this area of moral rectitude to the girls and women whom the men have taken advantage of their vulnerability.
HIV/AIDS AND SOCIAL CONTROL
In the absence of a vaccine or cure, prevention is the only feasible strategy for fighting the HIV epidemic. This message of prevention has been preached for years, yet the spread of HIV virus is still on the increase. The estimated cumulative number of HIV infections worldwide has risen. About 80 - 90% is thought to be sexually transmitted. So has the prevention work?
The rise of the infection in developing countries seems to indicate a massive defeat of international response. However, as nobody knows the real virulence of HIV, of what would have happened with no planned prevention intervention, the score has to remain open. It may be that all the information, education and communication efforts and all the blood testing and counseling have infact prevented a much more devastating explosion internationally or in a certain local/national areas. Even without knowing precisely the impact of prevention effort on the spread of global HIV, the challenge remains in the absence of a vaccine prevention interventions will remain the key to HIV control. The information, education and communication approaches in the fight against HIV have stressed the change of behaviour in relation to sexual attitudes. Those who are sexually active are advised to adopt sexual behaviors that reduce the risk of infection. The intervention to break the chain of transmission is seen basically as a technique to physical barriers like condoms, behavioral barriers like the abstinence or partner reduction, to stop the passage of the virus from one person to another. Youths have been identified as the target of the information and education campaigns. To stop these youths from behaving sexually as they did in the past became the prime task of the prevention of all sexual transmission. Although it is true that in the end, each individual who acts sexually has to take responsibility for his/her action, it is nevertheless obvious that sexual behavior and consumption patterns are strongly influenced by gender, social, cultural and economic factors. What a given society regards as sexually right or wrong as a taboo, deviant or normal is decided by the individual actor, and not by a set of norms and values to which different gratifications and sanctions are attached. For example, in Africa the social inequality between men and women is most responsible for the spread of the virus. Women, especially youths generally lack the social power to set the terms of sexual relationships. Social isolation and lack of education limits their knowledge of prevention behavior. Young girls and women living in poverty are often enticed or coerced to trade sex for support or social promotion and maybe forced into prostitution or polygamous marriages, why inheritance and societal promotion and concentration of the male infidelity are factors which have been identified as favourable in the transmission of the virus and the AIDS disease. As a result of these factors, which centres largely on the vulnerability of a woman to HIV infection, the complete success of the prevention method a major break through is conceptual thinking has been negative. Therefore, a shift in emphasis must take place from concentration on individual behavioral change to addressing the social and cultural structure of sexual relations and the individual as part of a community and a network. In doing so, the state or community should also enhance the ability of women to control their sexual relationships. Men and women should talk openly about sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. The state or community should also encourage men to take care of themselves, their partners and families. Our society is plagued with some men who are irresponsible in every conceivable way. They have a denial syndrome and they blame everything on the woman. Our society also suffers from some promiscuous married women in the rural and urban cities, who have discriminate extra marital sex as a routine. The state or community must provide good and quality education of sexual health; HIV/AIDS and life preserving skills for youths in and out of schools.

HIV/AIDS, всесторонний подход
Automatically translated into Russian thanks to WorldLingo
AIDS
ПРЕДИСЛОВИЯ считается как одна из ravaging болезни всех времен. Факт как на дате не будет известного лечения, делает вирус устрашая чем всегда. Болезнь вокруг на сверх 30 лет, но будет интересом что некоторые людей (молодость в частности) будут справедливым слухом о ем. Свое начало no longer любого последствия будет ли наказанием для нашего immorality или всегда он, не перестает быть релевантности если теперь имеет как жертвы, самого невиновного т.е. младенцы и молодости.
Кризисом AIDS будет теперь кризис развивающаяся страна и мира, специально Африки. Клиническим синдромом будет большой противник к этой смертоносной и большинств опустошительной болезни, по мере того как зараженные люди продолжаются распространить инфекцию.
Поведенческое изменение, зараженное принятие теми и их сотрудничество направляют к единственной дорогой к воевать распространение этого вируса.

ПРЕАМБУЛА
HIV/AIDS. Будет affliction или заклятьем? Будет этим вирусом разрушает havoc в наших обществе и озадачивая научных разумах?
Мы были сказаны научными работниками что HIV стоит для людского вируса иммунодефицита и AIDS стоит для приобретенным иммунным синдромом дефицита, который будет последний этап заболевания.
Если вы будете позитвом HIV, то вы заражены с вирусом и ваше тело реагирует путем производить антитела HIV. Если вы имеете доступ к анализу крови HIV, то они покажут эти anti тела.
Однако раз и индивидуал заражен с HIV, им принимает некоторое количество времени прежде чем организм начинает антитела, поэтому будет некоторый «период окна» когда зараженная персона испытает недостаток. Этот период окна продолжает для часто между 4 неделями и 6 месяцами, в исключительнейших случаях даже более длиной. В это время все люди зараженные HIV заразны.
Медицинская наука показывала то, через немного неделей после инфекции; несовершеннолетие зараженных людей испытывает некоторые акутовые симптомы, часто unnoticed.
Там после, весь HIV заразил людей испытывает длинний период без типичных серьезных заболеваний so-called «бессимптомный» период. Этот период может продолжать несколько лет.
Во время этого бессимптомного периода, зараженные люди могут передать вирус к другим. После этого периода, первые симптомы нарушения для иммунной обороны кажутся in the form of некоторыми болезнями которые были refer to как комплекс отнесенный AIDS. Заключительный этап AIDS заболеванием «польностью дунутого», следует за когда персона зараженная HIV начинает one or more из «opportunistic» инфекций и или раков. Заболевания вызваны opportunistic потому что они take advantage of возможность представленная ослабенной иммунной системой. Прогрессивный слабеть организма приводит к окончательно в смерти пациента. Никакое лечение (и никакое вакцинирование против) инфекции имуннодефицита или AIDS пока не были открыны.
Снадобья любят Efavirenz (EFV), Delavirdine (DLV), Nevirapine (NVP), AZT/3TC (Combivir), AZT/3TC/ABC (Trizivir), Zidovudine (AZT) и Didanosine (DDI) PRI использовании в комбинации или с другим лекарством смогите обработать или улучшить медицинские состояние и качество жизни зараженной персоны.
Эти снадобья работают путем понижать количество HIV в крови (вирусной нагрузке) и увеличивают число клеток лимфоцита CD4, тип иммунной клетки в крови. Научные работники имеют также после того как они сказаны нас что HIV можно передать через
 Имеющ unprotected секс с кто-то будет позитвом HIV. Около подуманы, что сексуальн переданы от 80 до 90 процентов инфекций.
 Шприцы и впрыскивающ оборудование правильн не было простерилизовано.
 Загрязняющ медицинское оборудование правильн не были простерилизованы или не использованы на людях.
 Даваемо передачи крови заражены с HIV.
 Donor осеменение с semen зараженным HIV.
 Вертикальная передача HIV от мати к младенцу во время стельности, рождениа ребенка или груди - подающ. HIV/AIDS находится на rampage внутри развивающаяся страна и Камерун в частности. Оно убивало много и оно убивает моложавое и оборотливое поколение этого мира.
Африка будет теперь эндемичной зоной одно может liken к зоне войны. No one свободно - вы будете или жертвой вируса или жертвой потери родственника, соседей, друга или знакомцем востребованным вирусом. Мы находим жертв были lay out работы для причин здоровья или высоких медицинских счетов. No one произносит dreaded имя вируса как реальная причина временного увольнения. Оно только прошептано. Страх сжимал сердца людей и гнев уничтожал некоторые из тех были объявленным позитвом HIV. Они соединяли усилия с вирусом изверга для того чтобы заразить так много unsuspecting невиновные людей прежде чем они умирают. Тариф распространимости (7.2) HIV/AIDS в Камеруне пришпоривал одно написать на HIV/AIDS, cEtc развития прав человека. сенсибилизировать молодости Камеруна и за пределами и принести к светлым вопросам жертвы вируса, медицинских докторов, и заведений (и общественно и приватно) могут быть посмотрены с. В виду того что HIV/AIDS будет новым заболеванием, законы Камеруна не отражают в настоящее время медицинское знание или некоторое из socio-законных проблем которые превращались в результате HIV/AIDS, cEtc. В виду того что мы будем говорить прав человека и закон по отношению к жертвам HIV/AIDS, обязательно знать что права человека и закон будет
Права человека могут быть определяют как правила равно и неотчуждаемо и обеспечивает сан если человеческое общество. Этими правилами будут учредительство свободы; правосудие и мир в мире они обеспечивают людские существования наслаждаются свободой слова и верование, и свободой страха и хотятся.
Искусствоо 25 (1) всеобщего объявления прав человека «обусловливает что каждое одно имеет права к стандарту жить подходящему для здоровья и добра - был себя и его семьи, включая еду, одежду, снабжение жилищем и медицинское обслуживание, и обязательно социальные обеспечения и право к обеспеченности в случае незанятости, болезни, инвалидности, widowhood и престарелого возраста, или другого отсутсвия livelihood в обстоятельствах за его управлением. With regards to вышеуказанное необходимо, чтобы права человека были защищены торжеством права, если человек не быть вынужденным иметь recourse, как последнее средство, к повстанчеству против тиранства и утеснения.

ПРЕДОХРАНЕНИЕМ ПАЦИЕНТОВ HIV/AIDS ПРОТИВ различения
РАЗЛИЧЕНИЯ против тех живя с HIV/AIDS будет общее место в нашем обществе. Оно одним из значительно злоупотреблений прав человека в зоне HIV/AIDS. Оно препятствует полные участие и внедрение людей живя с HIV/Aids в общине.
Различение может то быть сразу или косвенно. Сразу различение происходит где персона обрабатывает другие благоприятно чем третья персона было бы обработано в соответствующих обстоятельствах.
Косвенно различение с другой стороны происходит где неразумные условия или требование, such as необходимый HIV испытывая, приложены с существенн более высокой пропорцией персоны по-разному состояния, исполнило с чем люди такого же состояния какого персона требуя быть различенным против.
Зоны различения вклюают замужество, занятость, образование, медицинское лечение, вмещаемость, иммиграцию/эмиграцию и несколько других.
Оно должно быть замечено что не передают HIV вскользь. Примером вскользь передачи будет инфекция капельки, которая происходит с чихать, кашлять или делить утвари.
Различение должно поэтому быть запрещено против людей с фактическим восприниманным или заподозренным состоянием HIV, и самым эффективным средством судебной защиты будет enactment вообще законодательства различения которое запрещает шестякиные нерелевантные существования различения сделанные на земле HIV/AIDS.
Оно должно быть замечено что в предпринимать закончить различение на таких землях, положения обязаны для того чтобы защитить индивидуалов от авторитетов различения not only bye общественных, но также частной сектор и частные лица в общественных деятельностях.
Уменьшение предубежденности против PLWHA важно и практически по мере того как оно извлекает барьеры к предыдущему диагнозу и обработке. Discriminatory ориентации могут поэтому быть изменены путем enacting anti-discriminatory и защитные законы в парламенте, через образование, тренировку и средства и обеспечивать эффективное административную процедуру для полегания жалоб против таких ориентаций.
В Камеруне различение и stigmatization против людей живя с HIV/AIDS очень общие. Правительство через свой персонал здоровья, NGOs и некоторые приватные тела имеет через лекции и программы средств попытанные для того чтобы дать образование и сенсибилизировать публике на по возможности дорогах заключать контракт заболевание. Это находится в бите для того чтобы остановить распространять заболевания и обескуражить discriminatory ориентации к пациентам HIV/AIDS но различение все еще существует и все еще много, котор нужно сделать для того чтобы исключить или искоренить его вполне.
a) Изменяя discriminatory ориентации через парламенты: самым эффективным средством судебной защиты будет enactment дискриминационного законодательства генералитета anti запрещает шестякиное и нерелевантное различение будучи деланным на определенных землях против PLWHA. Держалось, что в некоторых странах поднимают осведомленность вопроса HIV/AIDS и сенсибилизируют мастерские политиканов к вопросам гуманитарного права.
Эти мастерские успешно в создавать климат non различения и открытость в парламенте. Оно находится на таких мастерских участники живя с членами или друзьями семьи зараженный HIV могут общественно подтвердить их отношение с этими зараженными людьми. Эти могут изменить discriminatory ориентации других участников и таким образом вымостить дорогу для легкого прохода через парламенты anti discriminatory законов. В парламенте некоторых стран создайте комиссию для non различения против людей зараженных HIV whilst другие парламентские тела имеют работу с другой организацией AIDS для того чтобы воевать эт различение. Законодательая власть, воевать различение против PLWHA смогла включить «утвердительное действие» например община, котор группа может дать предпочтение к занятости к людям HIV положительным потому что ими будет члены защищенного типа который подвергался к вообще различению.
Очевидно, стандарты обеспечивать различение должны быть приготовлены законодательство или пример, законодательая власть смог сделать инвалидность только одно AIDS HIV/нескольких причин для делать discriminatory поступок; это одно должно быть достаточно для того чтобы молоть осуждение в случае учреженном против индивидуалы, корпорация, или тело для различать против тех живя с HIV/AIDS.
Законодательая власть смогла также enact законы, которые позволяют вскользь соединение rather than доказательством проведения между discriminatory проведением и HIV/AIDS/инвалидностью, котор нужно быть требование к нашло лечение.
Парламент смог также обеспечить творение эффективных административных процедур для lodging жалобы и обеспечить существование независимо informed и быстро бульваров для redress such as комиссия прав человека имеют специальные процедуры для быстро отслеживать случаи где complainants будут терминально больной. Несколько из этих правильн обращанных жалоб обескураживут различение. Выходы узнают парламентом должны существовать в внутрирастительное различение работодателями компаний специально rather than просто случай индивидуалов, которые ограничивали применение.
Занятость, был одна GLAVNая OBLASTь где discriminatory ориентациями будут общее место против тех живя с HIV/AIDS, необходимое оборудование которое заявляет что персона использовала если он может выполнить своиственные требования работы.
b) Изменяя Discriminatory ориентация через Judiciary: В некоторых странах, judiciary был пристрелн как аппаратура в изменять discriminatory ориентации связанные с HIV/AIDS. Мастерские были организованы для того чтобы сенсибилизировать судей и создать осведомленность вопросов HIV/AIDS могут вытечь в судах например. действие учреженное PLWHA или на их в интересах против индивидуалов или сотрудничестве для discriminatory ориентаций к им.
c) Изменяя discriminatory ориентации положениями: положение может также изменить discriminatory ориентации против людей живя с HIV/AIDS через образование, тренировку, и средства. Положение, использующ обширный ряд средств such as пленки, телевидение, радиоего, etc смогло совместно с соотвествующими реальностями such as группы средств, NGO, приспособление и распределенный программировать для того чтобы повысить и uphold уважение для права и сана людей с HIV/AIDS и члены уязвимой группы такие программы должен aim at dispelling мифы и предположения, о жить с HIV/AIDS путем показывать их как друзья, родственники, коллегаы, соседи и соучастники. Такая смелость должна также усилить reassurance относительно режимов передачи вируса и безопасности ежедневного социального контакта.
Отрицательные влияния ориентаций различения и stigmatization связанных с HIV/AIDS не могут находиться над после того как они подчеркнуты. Люди живя с вирусом HIV могут жить разумно длиной и продолжительности продуктивности, определенно с недавним выдвижением в antiretroviral обработку.
Попыткой преждевременно исключить людей живя с вирусом от workforce будет шестякина и проломы прав человека. Они также потенциальн неэкономичны если они могут произвольно исключить квалифицировать персону от положения.
Эти discriminating ориентации необходимо обескуражить и изменить. Тем живя с вирусом нужно быть и чывство защищенное от stigmatization и различения их общинами. Для этих защищенных измерений быть снабженным и заданный войлок удара, оно потребность договоренные усилия not only положения самостоятельно, или парламент, но каждое и в приватном и общественном сечторе повысить широкое и ongoing распределение творческих программ образования, тренировки и средств точно конструируют изменить ориентации различения и stigmatization против HIV/AIDS к понимать и принятию.
Экран Confidentiality
confidentiality нарисован от обширного основания всеобще признавал принцип персоны прав к уединению. Право судебно одобрено как экран от unwarranted ассигнования one 's личности, publicizing одних приватные дела с которыми публика не имеет никакую правомерную заботу. Это независимо законными right of индивидуал и свое нарушение образовывает tort. Декан Prosser, в его работе на tort, различил 4 категории torts обнятых в пределах прав уединения, confidentiality одним из таких. Право предсказано на конституционной гарантии жизни, вольности и преследование воодушевленности счастья рисуя от всеобщего объявления прав человека, которые uphold неотчуждаемые и священные права персоны, им можно сказать что когда закон гарантирует до одно право насладиться его жизнью, подарок к ему что-то больше чем как раз право вздохнуть. Вольность он управляет от закона природы и узнает национальными конституциями вклюает право жить по мере того как одно выбирает so long as тот выбор не мешает с right of другие или публика. Оно в пределах этого духа что международные права как enshrined в всеобщем объявлении прав человека гарантируют право к уединению с законом как барбос. Confidentiality однако различает от всех других прав уединения в том, он возникает от доверенн отношения от которого пропускает разоблачениями показанными на платформе доверия, доверия и скрупулезных хорошего веры и чистосердечности которой оно требует.
Отношение конфиденциального врача терпеливейшее понижается в пределах этой категории. Confidentiality позволяет плотный обмен информации облегчая соотвествующую внимательность и правильно диагноз. Обязанность врача образовывает защитный экран против излишнего вторжения от других. С пришествием вируса HIV, большинств стационары upholding сильно принцип confidentiality начинали пароли которые могут только быть интерпретированы медицинскими профессионалами сами для того чтобы показать вирус. Infact the health care provider is set to own the medical records but the patient owns the information with the records.
The principle of confidentiality is not absolute Ethical, legal and statutory obligations may permit physicians to disclose information when legally requested by the court or for the purpose of legal investigations or referred to him in his capacity as a medical expert. At a minimum health care professionals have an ethical duty to inform patients prior to testing, as well as upon receipt of result that the, information obtained may have familiar implications. A person tested positive with the HIV virus automatically puts the wife/husband at risk. In such case exceptional disclosures are permissible when: -
 Attempts to encourage disclosure on the part of patients have failed
 The harm is highly likely to occur and if serious, imminent and foreseeable.
 The “at risk” relatives are identifiable and
 The disease is preventable

WOMEN’S VULNERABILITY TO HIV/AIDS IN CAMEROON
Of the 18million people living in Cameroon, about 52% are girls and women belonging to diverse cultures and religions. These women or girls represent a fascinating weave of modernity and tradition, progress and backwardness. A common stand that runs through this weaves is that of inequality between the privilege and not so privilege, between urban and rural, between men and women. The woman however have continued to make strides towards equality with men; whenever they are educated able to generate income and enjoy equal protection under the law, they are in a position to have some control over their economic, social and personal life. However, these goals are still remote for millions of Cameroonians who are vulnerable to HIV infections. This vulnerability is no doubt due to the number of factors
a) Biological Vulnerability; this applies generally to all women, the Cameroonian women inclusive. It is gathered from several sources that the risk of being infected with HIV as with other transmissible diseases during unprotected sexual intercourse, is as much as two to four times higher for women than men. This is because, as compared to men, women have a larger mucosal surface exposed during intercourse to their partner’s secretion. Since semen that is infected contains a higher concentration of the virus than a woman’s sexual secretions, this makes male to female transmission more efficient than female to male. In young girls their physiological immune cervix and scant secretion puts up fewer barriers to HIV so that they are at even greater biological risk. Tearing and bleeding during sexual intercourse whether from rough sex, rape, or prior genital mutilation (female circumcision), multiplies the risk of HIV infections in women. Anal intercourse practiced by some women as a means of preserving virginity or avoiding risk of pregnancy, often tears the delicate tissue and affords easy entry of the virus.
Another biological factor of great importance is an untreated sexually transmitted infection (STI)
in either partner, which multiplies the risk of HIV transmission by up to 10-fold.
Women are also epidemically vulnerable through blood transfusion during pregnancy or child birth.
b) Social vulnerability; social vulnerability despite constitutional and legislative guarantees, the unequal states of women is greatly manifested in almost all social aspects. For most Cameroonian women, their social standing and interaction in a male dominated society greatly contributed to the deadly diseases. The situation is such that most men expect sex with any woman who receives their support resulting in sexual subordination thus creating a very unhealthy atmosphere for AIDS prevention .Social attitudes are such that initiative and decision making in sex is left to the dominants males. Thus most women have no skills to resist or say no to unwanted and unsafe sex. Another issue of concern is the growing demand for younger sex partners, the sugar daddy phenomenon where old men offer young girls gifts and huge sums of money in exchange for sex. In other instances sex is the “currency” for pass grades, jobs opportunities. The high rate of promiscuity and acceptable infidelity is dangerous fertile grounds for women’s vulnerability.
c) Economic Vulnerability: due to the economic situation and circumstances, women’s autonomy is crippled. Lacking economic resources of their own, most women are vulnerable because they depend on the on men for support. In almost all cases men expect sex with any woman who receives their supports. Being fearful of abandonment or violence on the part of their male partners, they have little or no control over how and when they have sex and when and hence over the risk of becoming infected with HIV. In some areas, women have several male partners who provide support for their children’s needs and other necessities. The drastic cut in salaries in the 90’s and the economic crisis having dealt most Cameroonians a blow, women’s dependence on men’s support drastically increased. Furthermore, women also face a double burden relative to the epidemic. They are not only more vulnerable than men to acquiring the infection, but they also bear the greatest responsibility in providing care to infected family members.
1) Cultural and Traditional Practices: most of the campaigns on the fight against HIV/AIDS have so far been focused on orthodox means such as multiple sex partners , sharing of needles, blood transfusion and congenial infection from an infected mother to an unborn child among others. Research have shown that rooted in people’s cultures and traditional practices in Cameroon as in other African countries, are practice that are more dangerous potentials means of spreading the dreaded Virus. Some of these practices involve skin cut, lesions, wife inheritance, and widowhood rights, tribal marks, body scarification, tattoos, blood letting and female circumcision as explain below.
 Scarification by native / traditional doctors; this practice is pervasive amongst most Cameroonian even the elites. People still secretly visit these native doctors for charms and native powers to induce diverse kinds of favors such as promotion, monetary rewards, and insurance against perceived enemies including witches and wizards. Most native doctors satisfy these discrete but pervasive wishes by scarifying their clients and applying substances believed to possess powers to produce the desired results. There is the practice of scarifying the face in most tribes leaving terrible and sometimes very frightful and embarrassing tribal marks. The truth is that the surgical knives, blades, broken bottles, or sharp edged stones often used by these native doctors and elders of these tribes are not sterilized and the same tools are used on as many clients as possible. In the course of these practices, there is inevitable blood transfusion, a channel of contracting the HIV virus
 Widowhood rites / Wife Inheritance: In many African countries and Cameroonian tribes, a widow is compelled to sleep with her brother-in-law, presumably to make her pure and free from the curse of being a widow or being revisited by the dead husband. It is nobody’s business to know if the woman or brother-in-law is HIV positive. In other cases, the late husband’s brother, cousin or other male relation not minding the health status of either parties inherit the widow. There is also the practice in some villages whereby elderly and most often single men without children marry younger women of child bearing age to bear children for them, with no regard to the health status of the man or the woman.
 Female circumcision:- Despite international efforts and national and official attempts to outlaw it, female circumcision is still practiced in some parts of Cameroon especially the South and North West Provinces. It is considered an important cultural practice, which curbs immoral behaviour and gives guidance to the initiates on important matters of life. In most cases, older women carryout the circumcision as it is the case with scarification, the same instruments are employed for several cases with no regard to the health risks involved. Any campaign against AIDS that does not consider these cultural practices is not likely to succeed. But the question is, can the people be removed from these ingrained practices? How far are we ready to change these practices?
 Prostitution:- It constitutes another setting in which women have little power to protect themselves from HIV. Most young girls involved in prostitution are ignorant of the risk of contracting the HIV virus. Sexual exploitation of young girls in Cameroon is the most pernicious form of child abuse. While for some women, prostitution is a choice, many turn to occasional or steady sex work as an alternative to fight poverty, exchanging sex for basic necessities of life for themselves and their children. Some of these women are either divorcees or widows who because of inequitable laws and customs have lost their property as well as their husband’s earning power. The situation of economically unstable and not too viable single mother is most alarming.
 No Female Control Preventive Methods:- The Cameroonian woman does not have a suitable barrier method available for HIV prevention. The much-talked about female condom is little known and not yet widely used. Those who have heard of it or seen it complain that usage is not easy at all for various reasons. The only widely available effective method to prevent the heterosexual transmission of HIV is the male condom. There are no counseling services in the rural communities. Even where they exist most women will not seek HIV related counseling, testing, treatment and support for fear of being identified or face discrimination in case of positive result.
 Ignorance:- Most Cameroonian women do not have access to formal education for varied reasons and despite the available facilities. They therefore have very little information about their own bodies and education about HIV/AIDS. There are quite a large number of women who haven’t heard anything yet about AIDS and they remain ignorant of its existence, not to talk of its prevention.
Haven exposed the dangers of some of our cultures and tradition; it is obvious that the situation calls for a remedy – the empowerment of the rural woman. The Cameroonian woman needs to be empowered to have greater access/ control over the rate of HIV infections. Suggestions for such empowerment include:-
a) Literacy and adult education programmes as an important first approach. Steps should be taken to ensure that all, if not; most women in the very remote and rural areas of Cameroon and Africa in particular have education and information in its simplest form about basic human rights and HIV/AIDS. Women should be taught and encourage to negotiate safer sex and to say “NO” and be able to resist unsafe sex.
b) Women should be exposed to more income generating projects to allow the more autonomy. An economically independent woman does not need to exchange sex for her basic needs.
c) More healthy, available and accessible counseling services should be provided for women.
d) A forum should be made available for women to come together to expose cultural taboos that are detrimental to women’s health.
e) Female – controlled and easy to use preventive methods should be developed.
f) There should also be policy changes, particularly specific anti-discriminatory provisions for greater protection of women’s rights and increase economic independence and legal status. This should include a greater political voice for women.

HIV/AIDS AND MEDICAL CARE
The universal declaration of Human Rights in its Article 25 (1), the Cameroon 1996 constitution and WHO charter in its article 1, states that it is an individual’s inalienable right to get medical care when he is sick. Right now, the human race is perplexed by the HIV epidemic which has no vaccine or cure. The testing for HIV virus should be voluntary. It is an individual’s right to refuse to go for testing but such refusal is morally wrong where medical institution may want to conduct this test for statistical purposes, the consent of the blood donor / patient should be sought. It will be a medical malpractice if a doctor or a health institution conducts an HIV test on anyone without his consent. It has been poorly argued that for statistical purposes patients may be screened without their knowledge. Such an argument is unfounded and is in violation of the right of the patient, since the health status of an individual is a personal matter. HIV/AIDS is not a contagious illness. We have already seen that HIV could be contracted through coming in contact with HIV contaminated blood, semen or breast milk through blood infusions, blood contact, sexual intercourse, sharing needles or syringe. Therefore a doctor or medical institution that isolates HIV/AIDS patients may be liaised for discrimination and causing additional emotional pain and suffering. Is being HIV positive patient not enough punishment?
One can even classify such isolation, as punitive if the patient has contagious HIV related diseases. Why would anyone punish an HIV/AIDS patient? It is an actionable tort when a patient is given HIV contaminated blood or treated with HIV unspecialized medical instruments.
Antiretroviral drugs can reduce the level of HIV in blood and also treat HIV related infections, but in Cameroon, many infected persons especially those in rural communities have no access to these ARV’s. It is estimated that in many developing countries and Africa in particular, four out of every five person visit traditional health practitioners and use traditional treatments. Traditional healers already treat large numbers of people living with HIV and AIDS. It is therefore important to look into this area of healthcare. It is also important to improve the approaches to working with traditional doctors, this can improve HIV prevention and care services while continuing to advocate for improved access to modern medicine and treatment.
To help the Cameroonian population in the rural areas and most developing countries at large, medical officers should come up with programmes to train traditional health practitioners on the necessity of sterilizing blades and other sharp objects they use in administering their treatment, so as to minimize the risk of HIV infection. Appropriate training encourages traditional health practitioners to replace harmful practices or myths about HIV with safer practices. They should discourage the practice of witchcraft by not classifying the AIDS symptoms as caused by witchcraft. These traditional healers should be encouraged to promote sexual abstinence among youths and fidelity within married adults. Such values often agree with traditional beliefs about the causes of sexually transmitted infections and other illnesses and it is now recognized that reduction in the number of sex partners is a powerful factor in reducing HIV transmission. To pass on proper training in handling HIV/ AIDS cases to our traditional healers, workshops and seminars should be organized by the Ministry of Public Health. As far as legal issues are concerned, traditional healers must be made to understand that accusing people of being responsible of one’s misfortune or illness or death through witchcraft without proof is a defamatory statement and could lead to criminal prosecution.
AIDS AND EMPLOYMENT
An HIV infected person has right as all human beings do, amongst them, the right to work. The universal declaration of Human Rights states that “Every person shall have the right and obligations to work”. AIDS is an issue of human rights and it is necessary to protect the right of working men and women living with the virus, these rights inter alia are access to productive and decent work, social security benefits, health care and the right to confidentiality. In Cameroon, HIV/AIDS infected persons have had their rights to work trampled upon by employers. Applications of job seekers have been rejected because of their HIV/AIDS status. Working men and women with HIV/AIDS have suffered all forms of discrimination at their job sites. Gaining access to employment is a major problem for HIV infected persons. A number of companies now require job seekers to pass an HIV/AIDS test before employment. Men and women including those with HIV/AIDS have the right to work in condition of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. One of an employee’s greatest nightmares begins when he is known or presumed to be HIV positive. He suffers all forms of discrimination. He is isolated by his colleagues. In the private sector, he may be passed over for promotion and is not taken into consideration for training programmes no matter how hard he may work. At worst, the employer dismisses him. When one looks at the discrimination going on in the world of work against HIV/AIDS person, one might fear that in the long run such persons will be completely kept out of work. However this might not be the case as there are some employers who are beginning to realize that these person’s rights as human beings must be respected. Nevertheless, such actions will not go a long way in protecting the rights of HIV/AIDS persons on the whole, as some of the important issues to be addressed by the proposed law that will be of help to people living with AIDS are:
 A person should not be discriminated against with regard to terms and conditions of employment because of his HIV status, if he is otherwise qualified.
 The law should prohibit an employer from inquiring about an employee or job applicant medical status. This law should also provide for reasonable accommodations to enable HIV/AIDS workers perform the essential function of a job, that is, flexible working hours, time off for doctors appointment etc. this law must also lay out the various remedies available for HIV/AIDS persons where their rights have been violated. It doesn’t suffice to lay out the rights.
HIV/AIDS AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
In many African countries and Cameroon included there is an experience of growth in HIV/AIDS and this is evidence and increasing in ages between 18 to 40 years. This age bracket is considered to be that when the woman is sexually active and of child bearing age. Women are one of the fastest growing populations being infected with HIV and the number of AIDS cases among women is increasing steadily each year. Because the time of infection to developing AIDS can be variably long, many of these women acquire HIV in their teens or as soon as they become sexually active. Women are more at risk to be infected as male to female transmission is estimated to be eight times more likely than female to male. This is so because HIV is more easily transmitted from men to women due to greater expose surface area in the female genital track. Women do not as yet wear the condom, therefore they are not capable of protecting themselves from HIV infections. They can therefore not rely on their own skills, attitudes and behaviors regarding condom use. They have to rely on their ability to convince their partner to use a condom. Gender, culture and power may be barriers to maintaining safer sex practices. Women are disproportionally represented among the poor and the less likely to have access to health care services. Most of them will have to struggle for daily survival and may have no concern about HIV infections when having sexual relations and the impact may be felt many years later. Like many people in committed relationships, women might find intimacy in their relationships to be more important than protection against HIV. Usually, unsafe sex may be linked to emotional, social and possibly financial dependence on men. Women are furthermore vulnerable to be infected with HIV because they are mostly passive partners in sexual relations and can not be heard to refuse sex to their husbands or partners even if infection is suspected. They are vulnerable and not in a position to avoid infection because they either do not receive preventive education or information or cannot act on it, and when infected are disempowered to cope with the impact. The woman’s subordinate status limits opportunities to be informed about HIV/AIDS making them more vulnerable to infections and impairing their ability to deal with possible consequences of infection which require care and support. Women some times can not negotiate safer sex or leave their partners because of social and legal norms and economic dependency norms that promote motherhood as the ideal form of self worth. This increases the vulnerability to HIV and constrains reproductive choices for HIV positive women. Double standard about chastity and fidelity means that many monogamously married women are powerless to avoid infection by their husband. For many women, many of their HIV diagnoses can carry with it the devastating assumptions that they can and will never have children. Many others receive their diagnoses while pregnant this is so because many women are not tested for HIV unless they become pregnant or ill. And some women infected with HIV may decide to have their babies while others chose to have a termination. The decision to terminate a pregnancy is very personal since the Cameroonian law allows for termination on grounds of ill health. This article is an attempt to look at the reproductive right of unborn child and to say that the woman infected with HIV can still become pregnant and have a baby. Being pregnant will not increase the chances of developing AIDS. Research has shown that pregnancy does not speed HIV disease progression. Yes, a woman with an HIV positive test result has a right to become pregnant. The unborn baby has a right to live not withstanding the fact that his mother is HIV positive and stands the risk of being infected with the virus. It has been scientifically proven that not all babies born to an infected mother will have the virus at the time of birth. All babies born to mothers with HIV are born with HIVanti bodies but babies who are not infected loose their anti bodies by the time they are 18 months old. There is a possibility of the decline in numbers of the perinatally infected infant. This is due to:
The implementation of new knowledge in perinatal HIV prevention and treatment for pregnant women with HIV infection. AZT is the most commonly used and approved therapy for preventing transmission from mother to child. Delivery by elective caesarean sections also reduces the risk of a baby becoming infected. It is usually best for a baby to be breast fed. However, if the mother has HIV, breastfeeding will increase the risk of her baby becoming infected. Therefore a mother with HIV may not have to breast feed as bottle feeding is a safer alternative. The reduction in HIV transmission from mother to infant with the use of anti HIV drugs has been a remarkable success story. This major advance can be shared if there is easy access to the necessary drugs, adequate prenatal care, improved nutrition and prevention of breast feeding by the mother. All pregnant women ought to benefit from the informed counseling of the potential risk and benefits of using an optional and potent anti HIV regimen during pregnancy and then be allowed to make their own decision, unfortunately, little is known about the long term effects of this compound to the child. Due to so many unanswered questions, any HIV positive woman who is pregnant or considering pregnancy should seek the care or an advice of a clinician with experience and or knowledge of the latest break through in HIV research, this ensure the best possible prenatal care and the best possible out come for both the mother and child.
WOMEN AND HIV/AIDS-APRAGMATIC APPROACH
The health and wellbeing of women every where is of great important in its own rights. It is also the key to the health and wellbeing of their, family, communities and societies .but every year, millions of women in developing countries die in pregnancy and /or child birth. HIV presents an enormous challenge to safe motherhood. In sub Saharan Africa, millions of pregnant women are HIV positive. Women with HIV are likely to have complication during pregnancy and/or delivery, or abortion. They are also more vulnerable to anemia, malaria, pneumonia and tuberculosis (TB)both HIV prevention and care is an essential part of safe motherhood maternity services could play a crucial role by improving for pregnant women with HIV/AIDS before, during and after pregnancy. Fewer resources will be needed if programs work together.
 The vulnerability element: while it is important for men’s own health, that they become more involved in HIV prevention and care, there are important benefits for women too. Some of this links to women’s heightened vulnerability to HIV infection others tie more closely to equality and equity in care. Women’s vulnerability to HIV transmission is particularly a matter of biology. because virginal tissues if fragile , particularly in younger women, during unprotected virginal intercourse, an HIV man is twice as likely , to transmit the virus to an uninfected woman as an HIV positive is to infect her male partner . Women also made vulnerable by men’s greater economics and social power and by unequal gender relations. It is men who generally decided when and with whom to have sex and whether to use condoms or not. This leaves women with little or no control over these exposure to the deadly Virus it is men too who are usually the perpetrators of sexual violence whether in war or civil unrest or within ongoing relationships. in 1999 during the follow-up to the Beijing Fourth World Conferences on women, the 43rd session of the United Nation Commission on the statues of women attention was drawn to the need to educate women and men particularly young people, with a view to promoting equal relationships between men and women and to encourage to accept their responsibilities in matters relating to sexuality, reproduction and child bearing.
 Prevention through sex: there are many ways preventing the sexual transmission of HIV between women and their partners these includes abstinence, mutual fidelity, sex that does not involve virginal or anal penetration and condom use. However most prevention massages are simplicity and not tailored to the complex, and often hidden reality of men’s relationships with women or other men National AIDS campaigns have promoted abstinence outside marriage and fidelity within it wit some success. However, abstinence for young men is difficult and a menu of risk reduction option needs to be offered. The consistence use of male and female and female condoms in virginal or and sex also protects HIV and STI’s. Condoms, however, are under used for a variety of reason. In casual or commercial sex, men’s condom use is more common than in marriage but still often inconsistent in a study that was conducted in Zimbabwe, some two years ago, men interviewed had sex with prostitutes on an average of seven times a month but only used Condoms in about half of those encounters. Studies in many other countires have confirmed that female condom is an alternatives which some men and women find more comfortable than the male version. Like the male condom the female version can also be used for anal intercourse. Female condoms are, however much more expensive and difficult to acquire and because they remain visible during intercourse they still require male consent. When condoms are not used the prevalence of unsafe sex before an outside marriage plus the lack of HIV testing, means that millions of couple around the world, do not know whether they are practicing safer sex or not. Except when the goal is contraception introducing condoms use in a regular relationship, can be difficult. One problem is the difficulty of acknowledging premarital or casual sex and discussing the possibility of infection. For couples who wish to have children, the challenged is compounded by the fact that condoms interfere with procreation. A great deal of HIV transmission occurs as a result.
 Reproductive rights and choices: all women, regardless of their HIV status have the rights to choice whether and when to have children a woman who knows she is HIV positive , needs information about the HIV related risk of pregnancy for her self and her baby and how they can be reduced. But she most still be free to make her own decisions about whether or not to have children and should be supported in her choice.
 Ensuring mother’s rights to be healthy: All women need care and advice to help them remain healthy during their pregnancy. Protect women from HIV. The only completely reliable way to stop mother to child transmission of HIV is to prevent young girls and women from becoming HIV positive.
 Promote safe sex: Even after becoming pregnant, women should continue to practice safe sex unless they are absolutely certain that their partner is not HIV positive. Continuing to use condoms will also prevent STI’s. Keeping to one sexual partner makes sex safe on the condition that the partner is faithful.
 Test for, and treat all infection: An essential part of care for a pregnant woman is to look for, ask about and treat any infection she might have, especially those who are HIV positive. It is difficult for many women to decide what to eat because of poverty, customs or their status-leaving them fewer choices. Education about which local foods are most nutritious and the importance of pregnant women being well fed need to be un going. Discourage smoking and the use of alcohol and other drugs. Smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and the use of some drugs and herbal remedies can harm the unborn child. HIV positive women need to be especially careful because anything that damages their health can lower C D 4 counts.
 Provide Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV: Many women knowing their HIV status will help them make decisions that reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to their babies. The counselor might be a health worker such as a mid wife or a nurse, or may be a lay person. Peer counselors such as people who are themselves HIV positive. Can be very valuable.
 Points for Action:
 Gender awareness: promote understanding of the way in which gender stereotypes and expectation affects women and men. Support works that enhance gender equality and equity. Encourage discussion about the way girls are brought up and are expected to behave.
 Sexual communication and Negotiations: Encourage women to talk about sex with their partners enhance women’s capacity to determine when, where, and whether to have sex or not. Enhance both men and women access to appropriate sources to information, counseling and support. Promote greater understanding and acceptance of HIV/AIDS.
 Support and Care: Help women in their role as mother and providers of care and support within the family and community at large.
HUMAN RIGHTS, HIV/AIDS AND THE WOMAN
At the dawn of a new century, we still look at the future dominated by the deadly disease, which just a few decades ago were totally unknown. It may be shocking to know that over 75% of those infected with HIV live in the developing world, to which Cameroon belong. In this section, we will be considering the AIDS pandemic and HIV and how it affects women and children and what we can do about it.
1. The physiology of the woman: The mere fact that one is a woman has been proven, to make that person more vulnerable to contracting AIDS. Studies have confirmed that there is greater transmissibility of HIV from male to female. It has been estimated through research that the woman’s risk of being infected by HIV is at least twice that of a man. This is largely due to their physiological make up which has an extensive area of mucous membrane through which the virus get into the vaginal and to the cervix. Younger women, especially teenagers even run a greater risk due to their immature cervix and relatively low vaginal mucous. Production which are suspected to prevent less of a hindrance to HIV.
2. Childhood Marriages: In Cameroon like most African countries, young girls are given out to marriage as early as twelve years or even sooner. A girl child find herself married to a man who has maybe two other wives or children older than herself. He therefore has been sexually active for much longer and it is quite possible that he is already infected with HIV and as such, the girl child is of a very disadvantaged and pitiful position because as soon as soon as she indulges in sexual intercourse with her supposed husband, she finds herself with HIV.
3. Reproductive Health of Women: The fact that women carry pregnancies and are very dedicated during this period, makes them more vulnerable to epidemic. With complicated pregnancies and the need for blood transmission, the possibility of being infected is greater.
4. Labour Migration: Labour migration has been known to facilitate the spread of the disease with the woman again as the victim. Labour migration usually separates couples and leads to the establishment of temporarily migrant communities which are usually dominated by single sex most often man. This usually creates a market for prostitution as such; men have the money and need sex, so they are ready to pay for it. The examples are alive in Cameroon as we notice that wherever there has been the construction of roads, involving expatriate companies, who are Caucasians, we find a sudden prevalence of (mulatto) children (half-cast) which goes to demonstrate the sexual involvement of these workers in the community. The presence of these children is evidence that intercourse was done with no precaution. These types of women are far more prone to being infected with HIV.
5. Gender Inequality: Women in developing countries especially Cameroon and Africa at large are economically disadvantaged due to poor education, early marriages and no skill training which render them mostly unemployed. They are therefore dependent on men economically, which limits their choice on matters relating to health and sexuality. Also, the woman’s low social status and cultural demands which compares her to be always submissive to the male in sexual relations, further hampers her from controlling her sex life, she can not be heard to insist on the use of condoms. Also, the marital system of Polygamy which is prevalent in our towns and villages has the women at a disadvantaged position, as the husband goes from wife to wife can be infected by one wayward wife and the other wives will automatically be infected.
6. Women’s Attitude towards AIDS: The attitude of the woman herself in Cameroon to the issue of AIDS is quite alarming and a cause for concern. A study carried out with some female sex workers in Kumba, in the South West Province of Cameroon reveals that they all agree that AIDS exist, but they are doing nothing to protect themselves especially when the men are ready to pay huge sums of money. Some say they never use a condom with such clients the reason is simple. To these women, AIDS is not a reality as of now. For them, AIDS is something that affects other people not them. In their complacency, they feel out of the reach of AIDS. This non challence with which women in Cameroon have embraced the issue of AIDS requires that something more has to be done and urgently to raise awareness especially among female sex workers, female student on the dangers of AIDS and the fact that it is real.
7. Human Rights and Health: The universal declaration of Human Rights of 1948 gave the rights to every one to have a living standard sufficient to ensure one and his family good health as concerns food, clothing, housing, medical care and social services. Also, article 12 of the International Covenant on Economy, Social and Cultural rights also recognizes the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. These documents are the best legal and ideological weapons for protecting legal rights and autonomy of an individual. It therefore follows that for women to enjoy their human rights relating to health the following must be done;
 There has to be a cultural change which gives the woman the status of a partner in her marriage and not sub servant to her husband even on issues which concerns her health.
 There also has to be a free medical screening of HIV in all of the main towns of Cameroon where women can be encouraged at no cost to check themselves. For now, the cost of an HIV screening in Cameroon is 500 FRS ($1). This is still expensive.
 Empowerment of the woman economically is very important as it will make her independent to be able to control her sexuality if women are empowered economically, (by giving them some skills and small short term loans), they will find satisfaction in life and not continue to sell sex for a living.
 There has been a steep drop in our standards of morality. Infact, nowadays, you find high school and university girls kept by more than one “sugar daddies” who finance their acquired high taste. We call on the judges to do more in this area of moral rectitude to the gi

HIV/AIDS, een uitvoerige benadering
Automatically translated into Dutch thanks to WorldLingo
Het VOORWOORD
AIDS wordt beschouwd als één van de meest verwoestende ziekte van alle tijden. Het feit dat is zoals op datum er geen bekende behandeling, maakt het virus bang makend dan ooit. De ziekte is rond meer dan 30 jaar geweest, maar het is wonder dat sommige mensen (de jeugd in het bijzonder) enkel over het horen. Zijn oorsprong is niet meer van om het even welk gevolg of het een straf voor onze immorality is of wat ooit het is, om van relevantie ophoudt te zijn alsof nu als slachtoffers heeft, het onschuldigst d.w.z. babys en jongeren.
De crisis van AIDS is nu de crisis van de ontwikkelingslanden en de Wereld, vooral Afrika. Het klinische syndroom is de grootste vijand aan deze fatale en meest verwoestende ziekte, aangezien de besmette personen de besmetting blijven uitspreiden.
De gedrags verandering, de Goedkeuring door besmet die en hun samenwerking zijn de enige manier naar om de verspreiding van dit virus te bestrijden.

HIV/AIDS
VAN DE INLEIDING. Is het een kwelling of een vloek? Wat is dit virus dat verwoesting in onze maatschappij sloopt en Wetenschappelijke meningen in de war brengt?
Wij zijn verteld door wetenschappers die HIV de Menselijke Immunodeficiency tribunes van het Virus en van AIDS voor het Verworven Immune Syndroom van de Deficiëntie betekent, dat het laatste stadium van de ziekte is.
Als u HIV positief bent, bent u besmet met het virus en uw lichaam reageert door HIV antilichamen te produceren. Als u toegang tot een HIV bloedonderzoek hebt, zal het deze antiorganismen tonen.
Nochtans eens en het individu is besmet met HIV, vergt het een bepaalde hoeveelheid tijd alvorens het organisme antilichamen ontwikkelt, daarom is er een bepaalde „periode van het Venster“ wanneer een besmette persoon negatief zal testen. Deze vensterperiode vorig voor vaak tussen vier weken en Zes Maanden, in uitzonderlijke nog langere gevallen. Tijdens deze periode zijn alle HIV besmette personen besmettelijk.
De medische Wetenschap heeft aangetoond dat, een paar weken na besmetting; een minderheid van besmette personen ervaart sommige scherpe vaak ongemerkte Symptomen.
Daar daarna, al besmette HIV personen ervaart langdurig zonder typische ernstige ziekten de zogenaamde „niet-symptomatische“ periode. Deze periode kan verscheidene jaren duren.
Tijdens deze niet-symptomatische periode, kunnen de besmette personen het virus aan anderen overbrengen. Na deze periode, lijken de eerste symptomen van de verstoring voor immune defensie in de vorm van bepaalde ziekten die als complexe verwant AIDS zijn bedoeld. Het definitieve stadium van de ziekte „volledige geblazen“ AIDS, volgt wanneer een HIV besmette persoon één of meer van de „opportunistic“ besmettingen en of kanker ontwikkelt. De ziekten worden genoemd opportunistic omdat zij voordeel uit de kans halen die door het verzwakte immune systeem wordt geboden. Het progressieve verzwakken van het organisme resulteert definitief in de dood van de patiënt. Geen behandeling van (en geen inenting tegen) zijn HIV besmettingen of AIDS nog ontdekt.
Drugs zoals Efavirenz (EFV), Delavirdine (DLV), Nevirapine (NVP), AZT/3TC (Combivir), AZT/3TC/ABC (Trizivir), Zidovudine (AZT) en Didanosine (DDI) wanneer gebruikt in combinatie of met ander medicijn kan de medische voorwaarde en de levenskwaliteit van de besmette persoon behandelen of verbeteren.
Deze drugs werken door de hoeveelheid HIV in het bloed (virale lading) te verminderen en verhogen het aantal CD4 lymfocytencellen, een type van immune cel in het bloed. De wetenschappers hebben ook ons verteld dat HIV door  kan
worden overgebracht Hebbend onbeschermd geslacht met iemand wie HIV positief is. Ongeveer 80 tot 90 percent van de besmettingen wordt verondersteld om seksueel worden overgebracht.
 Delend spuiten en inspuitend materiaal dat niet behoorlijk is gesteriliseerd.
 Hebben vervuildd medisch materiaal wat niet behoorlijk zijn gesteriliseerd of op mensen gebruikt.
 Wordt gegeven bloedtransmissies die met HIV besmet zijn.
 De inseminatie van de donor met HIV besmet sperma.
 Verticale transmissie van HIV van moeder aan baby tijdens zwangerschap, kindgeboorte of borst die - voeden. HIV/AIDS is op een uitzinnigheid binnen moet ontwikkelingslanden en in het bijzonder Kameroen. Het heeft velen gedood en het doodt de youthful en vindingrijke generatie van deze wereld.
Afrika is nu een endemische streek die men met een oorlogsstreek kan vergelijken. Niemand is vrij - u bent of een slachtoffer van het virus of een slachtoffer van verlies van verwant, buren, vriend of een kennis die door het virus wordt geëistd. Wij vinden slachtoffers wat van het werk voor gezondheidsredenen of hoge medische rekeningen zijn opgemaakt. Niemand spreekt de gevreesde naam van het virus als echte oorzaak van het ontslag uit. Het wordt slechts gefluisterd. De vrees heeft de harten van mensen gegrepen en de woede heeft wat van hen verbruikt die HIV positief zijn verklaard. Zij hebben met het monstervirus samengewerkt om zo vele unsuspecting onschuldige mensen te besmetten alvorens zij sterven. Het overwichtstarief (7.2) heeft van HIV/AIDS in Kameroen aangespoord bij HIV/AIDS, de rechten van de mensontwikkeling enz. te schrijven. om de jongeren van Kameroen gevoelig te maken en verder en aan de lichte kwesties te brengen de slachtoffers van het virus, de medische artsen, en de instellingen (zowel openbaar als privé) kunnen worden geconfronteerd waarmee. Aangezien HIV/AIDS een nieuwe ziekte is, vormen een weerspiegeling de wetten van Kameroen niet van de huidige medische kennis of van enkele socio-wettelijke problemen die zich als resultaat van HIV/AIDS, enz. hebben ontwikkeld. Aangezien wij van rechten van de mens en de wet met betrekking tot HIV/AIDS slachtoffers spreken, is het noodzakelijk om te weten welke rechten van de mens en wet is
De rechten van de mens kunnen zijn bepalen als regels die gelijk en onvervreemdbaar zijn en zij verzekeren waardigheid als het menselijke ras zijn. Deze regels zijn de stichting van vrijheid; rechtvaardigheid en vrede in de wereld die zij de mensen genieten van vrijheid van toespraak en geloof, en vrijheid van vrees en wil hebben verzekerd.
Kunst 25 (1) van de universele verklaring van Rechten van de mens „bepaalt dat elke men de rechten op een Levensstandaard adequaat voor gezondheid en goed - zijnd van zich en zijn familie, met inbegrip van voedsel, kleding, huisvesting en medische zorg, en de noodzakelijke sociale diensten en het recht op veiligheid in het geval van werkloosheid, ziekte, onbekwaamheid, weduwschap en oude dag, of ander gebrek aan levensonderhoud in omstandigheden voorbij zijn controle heeft. Met achting aan bovengenoemd is het essentieel dat de Rechten van de mens door de rechtsstaat worden beschermd, als de mens niet moet worden gedwongen om toevlucht, als laatste redmiddel, aan opstand tegen tirannie te hebben en onderdrukking.

De BESCHERMING VAN HIV/AIDS PATIËNTEN TEGEN het Onderscheid
van het ONDERSCHEID tegen die die met HIV/AIDS leven is gemeenschappelijke plaats in onze maatschappij. Het is één van de meest significante rechten van de mensmisbruiken op het gebied van HIV/AIDS. Het belemmert de volledige participatie en de integratie van mensen die met HIV/Aids in de gemeenschap leven.
Het onderscheid kan of direct of indirect zijn. Het directe onderscheid komt voor waar een persoon een andere minder gunstig behandelt dan een derde persoon in vergelijkbare omstandigheden zou behandeld zijn.
Het indirecte onderscheid komt enerzijds voor waar de onredelijke voorwaarden of het vereiste, zoals verplichte HIV die, met een wezenlijk hoger deel van persoon van een verschillende status worden toegepast, moeten aan dan personen van de zelfde status kunnen voldoen als de persoon die eist onderscheiden te zijn tegen test.
De gebieden van onderscheid omvatten huwelijk, werkgelegenheid, onderwijs, medische behandeling, aanpassing, immigratie/emigratie en verscheidene anderen.
Men zou moeten opmerken dat HIV niet terloops wordt overgebracht. Een voorbeeld van toevallige transmissie is druppeltjebesmetting, die met het niezen, het hoesten of het delen van werktuigen voorkomt.
Het onderscheid zou daarom moeten worden belemmerd tegen personen met daadwerkelijke waargenomen of veronderstelde HIV status, en de meest efficiënte wettelijke remedie is de bepaling van de algemene onderscheidswetgeving die oneerlijke onbelangrijke onderscheidswezens belemmert die op grond van HIV/AIDS worden gemaakt.
Men zou moeten opmerken dat in het ondernemen om onderscheid op dergelijke gronden te beëindigen, de staten verplicht zijn om individuen tegen onderscheids niet alleen openbare diensten, maar ook de particuliere sector en privé individuen in openbare activiteiten tot ziens te beschermen.
Verminderen van nadeel tegen PLWHA is belangrijk en praktisch aangezien het hindernissen aan vroege diagnose en behandeling uit de weg ruimt. De discriminerende houdingen kunnen daarom worden veranderd door anti-discriminerende en beschermende wetten in het parlement, door onderwijs te bepalen die, die en de media en efficiënte administratieve procedure voor het indienen van klachten verzekeren tegen dergelijke houdingen opleiden.
In Kameroen zijn het onderscheid en de brandmerking tegen mensen die met HIV/AIDS leven zeer gemeenschappelijk. De overheid door zijn gezondheidspersoneel, NGOs en sommige particuliere instellingen heeft door lezingen en media programma's die worden geprobeerd om het publiek op de mogelijke manieren op te leiden en gevoelig te maken om de ziekte aan te gaan. Dit is in een beetje om het uitspreiden van de ziekte tegen te houden en discriminerende houdingen ten opzichte van HIV/AIDS patiënten af te raden maar onderscheid er bestaat nog en er is nog veel te doen om het volledig te elimineren of uit te roeien.
a) Veranderende discriminerende houdingen door de parlementen: de meest efficiënte wettelijke remedie is de bepaling van de algemene anti discriminerende wetgeving die oneerlijk en onbelangrijk onderscheid belemmert dat op gespecificeerde gronden tegen PLWHA wordt gemaakt. De workshops zijn gehouden in sommige landen om bekendheid met HIV/AIDS kwestie op te heffen en politici gevoelig te maken aan de kwesties van Rechten van de mens.
Deze workshops zijn succesvol in het creëren van een klimaat van non-discriminatie en openheid in het parlement geweest. Het is op dergelijke workshops dat de deelnemers die met familieleden of vrienden die leven besmet zijn HIV hun verhouding met deze besmette personen kunnen openbaar erkennen. Deze kunnen de discriminerende houdingen van andere deelnemers veranderen en zo de weg voor gemakkelijke passage banen door de parlementen van anti discriminerende wetten. In sommige landen heeft het parlement een commissie voor non-discriminatie tegen HIV besmette personen gecre�ërd terwijl andere parlementaire organismen het werk met andere organisatie van AIDS hebben om dit onderscheid te bestrijden. De wetgevende macht, te vechten onderscheid tegen PLWHA kon „Bevestigende actie“ toelaten bijvoorbeeld een communautaire groep voorkeur aan werkgelegenheid aan HIV positieve mensen kan geven omdat zij lid van een beschermde klasse zijn die aan algemeen onderscheid is onderworpen.
Klaarblijkelijk, zouden de Normen van het verstrekken van onderscheid door de wetgeving moeten worden gericht of het voorbeeld, de wetgevende macht kon HIV/onbekwaamheid slechts één van AIDS van verscheidene redenen maken om een discriminerende handeling te doen; dit alleen zou moeten volstaan om overtuiging in een geval aan de grond te zetten dat tegen individuen, bedrijf, of lichaam voor het onderscheiden tegen die wordt ingesteld die met HIV/AIDS leven.
De wetgevende macht kon wetten ook bepalen, die een toevallige verbinding eerder dan bewijs van gedrag tussen het discriminerende gedrag toelaten en HIV/AIDS/de onbekwaamheid om een vereiste te zijn aan een behandeling vond.
Het Parlement kon de verwezenlijking van efficiënte administratieve procedures ook verzekeren om klachten in te dienen en het bestaan van geïnformeerdea onafhankelijke en snelle wegen voor herstel zoals de commissie van Rechten van de mens verzekeren die speciale procedures voor snelle het volgen gevallen hebben waar de aanklagers terminaal ziek is. Enkelen van deze behoorlijk behandelde klachten zullen onderscheid afraden. De remedies erkennen door het parlement zouden moeten voor systemisch onderscheid door bedrijven vooral werkgevers eerder dan eenvoudig individuengeval bestaan, die toepassing hebben beperkt.
Werkgelegenheid, die één hoofdgebied waar de discriminerende houdingen gemeenschappelijke plaats tegen die die met HIV/AIDS is leven zijn, verplicht materiaal dat verklaart dat de persoon tewerkstelde als hij de inherente vereisten van de baan kan uitvoeren.
B) Veranderende Discriminerende houding door de Rechterlijke macht: In sommige landen, is de rechterlijke macht gericht als instrument in veranderende discriminerende houdingen verbonden aan HIV/AIDS. De workshops zijn georganiseerd om Rechters gevoelig te maken en tot bekendheid met HIV/AIDS kwesties te leiden die in de hoven kan te voorschijn komen b.v. actie die door PLWHA of op hun naam tegen individuen wordt ingesteld of samenwerking voor discriminerende houdingen ten opzichte van hen.
c) Veranderende discriminerende houdingen door de staten: de staat kan ook discriminerende houdingen tegen mensen veranderen die met HIV/AIDS door onderwijs, opleiding, en de media leven. De staat, die een brede waaier van media zoals films, televisie, radio, enz. met behulp van kon samen met aangewezen entiteiten zoals media groepen, NGO, apparaat en verdeelde programmering om de eerbied voor het recht en de waardigheid van mensen met HIV/AIDS en leden van de kwetsbare groep te bevorderen en te bevestigen dergelijke Programma's het verjagen van mythen en veronderstellingen, over het leven met HIV/AIDS zouden moeten beogen door hen als vrienden, verwanten, collega's, buren en partners af te schilderen. Dergelijke moed zou de herverzekering betreffende de wijzen van transmissie van het virus en de veiligheid van dagelijks sociaal contact ook moeten versterken.
De negatieve gevolgen van houdingen van onderscheid en brandmerking verbonden aan HIV/AIDS kunnen over benadrukt zijn niet. De mensen die met het HIV virus leven kunnen leven het redelijk lange en productieve leven, in het bijzonder met recente vooruitgang in antiretroviral behandeling.
De poging mensen die met het virus leven van het aantal arbeidskrachten te vroeg om uit te sluiten is oneerlijk en een breuk van rechten van de mens. Zij zijn ook potentieel onekonomisch als zij de meest gekwalificeerde persoon van een positie kunnen willekeurig uitsluiten.
Deze onderscheidende houdingen moeten worden afgeraden en worden veranderd. Die die met het virus leven moeten zijn en voelen beschermd tegen brandmerking en onderscheid door hun gemeenschappen. Voor deze beschermde maatregelen die moeten worden ten uitvoer gelegd en gewenst effect dat, ontwerpt het behoefte de gezamenlijke inspanningen niet alleen van de alleen staat, of het parlement, maar iedereen in zowel de particuliere als openbare sector wordt gevoeld om de brede en aan de gang zijnde verspreiding van creatieve onderwijs, opleidings en media programma's bevorderen uitdrukkelijk om houdingen van onderscheid en brandmerking tegen HIV/AIDS in begrip en goedkeuring te veranderen.
Het schild van vertrouwelijkheids
Vertrouwelijkheid wordt getrokken van het brede basis universeel toegelaten principe van een persoon is juist aan privacy. Een recht dat onpartijdig als schild van het ongerechtvaardigde krediet van een zijn persoonlijkheid wordt goedgekeurd, het bekend maken van degenen privé zaken waarmee het publiek geen wettige zorg heeft. Dit is een onafhankelijk wettelijk recht van het individu en zijn schending vormt tort. Dean Prosser, in zijn werk van aangaande tort, onderscheidde vier categorieën van torts die binnen de rechten van privacy wordt omhelst, vertrouwelijkheid die één van zulke is. Een recht dat op de constitutionele waarborg van het leven, vrijheid wordt voorspeld en de achtervolging van de inspiratie van de gelukTekening van de universele verklaring van rechten van de mens, die de onvervreemdbare en heilige rechten van de persoon bevestigen, het kan worden gezegd dat wanneer de wetswaarborgen op één het recht van zijn leven, een gift aan hem te genieten iets meer dan enkel het recht te ademen. De vrijheid die hij door natuurlijke wet drijft en erkent door de nationale grondwetten omvat het recht te leven aangezien één kiest mits die keus zich niet in het recht van een andere of het publiek mengt. Het is binnen deze geest dat de internationale wetten zoals die in de universele verklaring van rechten van de mens worden vastgelegd het recht op privacy met de wet als waakhond waarborgt. De vertrouwelijkheid onderscheidt zich nochtans van alle andere rechten van privacy in zoverre dat, het van fiduciaire verhouding het gevolg is waarvan de stromenonthullingen op een platform van vertrouwen, vertrouwen en het gewetensvolle goede geloof en de openhartigheid openbaarden dat het vereist.
De vertrouwelijke artsen geduldige verhouding valt binnen deze categorie. De vertrouwelijkheid staat een vertrouwelijke uitwisseling van informatie toe die aangewezen zorg en correcte diagnose vergemakkelijkt. De artsenplicht vormt een beschermend schild tegen het ongewenste binnendringen van anderen. Met de komst van het HIV virus, hebben de meeste ziekenhuizen die sterk het principe van vertrouwelijkheid bevestigen wachtwoorden ontwikkeld die slechts door de medische beroeps zelf kunnen worden geïnterpreteerde om op het virus te wijzen. Infact the health care provider is set to own the medical records but the patient owns the information with the records.
The principle of confidentiality is not absolute Ethical, legal and statutory obligations may permit physicians to disclose information when legally requested by the court or for the purpose of legal investigations or referred to him in his capacity as a medical expert. At a minimum health care professionals have an ethical duty to inform patients prior to testing, as well as upon receipt of result that the, information obtained may have familiar implications. A person tested positive with the HIV virus automatically puts the wife/husband at risk. In such case exceptional disclosures are permissible when: -
 Attempts to encourage disclosure on the part of patients have failed
 The harm is highly likely to occur and if serious, imminent and foreseeable.
 The “at risk” relatives are identifiable and
 The disease is preventable

WOMEN’S VULNERABILITY TO HIV/AIDS IN CAMEROON
Of the 18million people living in Cameroon, about 52% are girls and women belonging to diverse cultures and religions. These women or girls represent a fascinating weave of modernity and tradition, progress and backwardness. A common stand that runs through this weaves is that of inequality between the privilege and not so privilege, between urban and rural, between men and women. The woman however have continued to make strides towards equality with men; whenever they are educated able to generate income and enjoy equal protection under the law, they are in a position to have some control over their economic, social and personal life. However, these goals are still remote for millions of Cameroonians who are vulnerable to HIV infections. This vulnerability is no doubt due to the number of factors
a) Biological Vulnerability; this applies generally to all women, the Cameroonian women inclusive. It is gathered from several sources that the risk of being infected with HIV as with other transmissible diseases during unprotected sexual intercourse, is as much as two to four times higher for women than men. This is because, as compared to men, women have a larger mucosal surface exposed during intercourse to their partner’s secretion. Since semen that is infected contains a higher concentration of the virus than a woman’s sexual secretions, this makes male to female transmission more efficient than female to male. In young girls their physiological immune cervix and scant secretion puts up fewer barriers to HIV so that they are at even greater biological risk. Tearing and bleeding during sexual intercourse whether from rough sex, rape, or prior genital mutilation (female circumcision), multiplies the risk of HIV infections in women. Anal intercourse practiced by some women as a means of preserving virginity or avoiding risk of pregnancy, often tears the delicate tissue and affords easy entry of the virus.
Another biological factor of great importance is an untreated sexually transmitted infection (STI)
in either partner, which multiplies the risk of HIV transmission by up to 10-fold.
Women are also epidemically vulnerable through blood transfusion during pregnancy or child birth.
b) Social vulnerability; social vulnerability despite constitutional and legislative guarantees, the unequal states of women is greatly manifested in almost all social aspects. For most Cameroonian women, their social standing and interaction in a male dominated society greatly contributed to the deadly diseases. The situation is such that most men expect sex with any woman who receives their support resulting in sexual subordination thus creating a very unhealthy atmosphere for AIDS prevention .Social attitudes are such that initiative and decision making in sex is left to the dominants males. Thus most women have no skills to resist or say no to unwanted and unsafe sex. Another issue of concern is the growing demand for younger sex partners, the sugar daddy phenomenon where old men offer young girls gifts and huge sums of money in exchange for sex. In other instances sex is the “currency” for pass grades, jobs opportunities. The high rate of promiscuity and acceptable infidelity is dangerous fertile grounds for women’s vulnerability.
c) Economic Vulnerability: due to the economic situation and circumstances, women’s autonomy is crippled. Lacking economic resources of their own, most women are vulnerable because they depend on the on men for support. In almost all cases men expect sex with any woman who receives their supports. Being fearful of abandonment or violence on the part of their male partners, they have little or no control over how and when they have sex and when and hence over the risk of becoming infected with HIV. In some areas, women have several male partners who provide support for their children’s needs and other necessities. The drastic cut in salaries in the 90’s and the economic crisis having dealt most Cameroonians a blow, women’s dependence on men’s support drastically increased. Furthermore, women also face a double burden relative to the epidemic. They are not only more vulnerable than men to acquiring the infection, but they also bear the greatest responsibility in providing care to infected family members.
1) Cultural and Traditional Practices: most of the campaigns on the fight against HIV/AIDS have so far been focused on orthodox means such as multiple sex partners , sharing of needles, blood transfusion and congenial infection from an infected mother to an unborn child among others. Research have shown that rooted in people’s cultures and traditional practices in Cameroon as in other African countries, are practice that are more dangerous potentials means of spreading the dreaded Virus. Some of these practices involve skin cut, lesions, wife inheritance, and widowhood rights, tribal marks, body scarification, tattoos, blood letting and female circumcision as explain below.
 Scarification by native / traditional doctors; this practice is pervasive amongst most Cameroonian even the elites. People still secretly visit these native doctors for charms and native powers to induce diverse kinds of favors such as promotion, monetary rewards, and insurance against perceived enemies including witches and wizards. Most native doctors satisfy these discrete but pervasive wishes by scarifying their clients and applying substances believed to possess powers to produce the desired results. There is the practice of scarifying the face in most tribes leaving terrible and sometimes very frightful and embarrassing tribal marks. The truth is that the surgical knives, blades, broken bottles, or sharp edged stones often used by these native doctors and elders of these tribes are not sterilized and the same tools are used on as many clients as possible. In the course of these practices, there is inevitable blood transfusion, a channel of contracting the HIV virus
 Widowhood rites / Wife Inheritance: In many African countries and Cameroonian tribes, a widow is compelled to sleep with her brother-in-law, presumably to make her pure and free from the curse of being a widow or being revisited by the dead husband. It is nobody’s business to know if the woman or brother-in-law is HIV positive. In other cases, the late husband’s brother, cousin or other male relation not minding the health status of either parties inherit the widow. There is also the practice in some villages whereby elderly and most often single men without children marry younger women of child bearing age to bear children for them, with no regard to the health status of the man or the woman.
 Female circumcision:- Despite international efforts and national and official attempts to outlaw it, female circumcision is still practiced in some parts of Cameroon especially the South and North West Provinces. It is considered an important cultural practice, which curbs immoral behaviour and gives guidance to the initiates on important matters of life. In most cases, older women carryout the circumcision as it is the case with scarification, the same instruments are employed for several cases with no regard to the health risks involved. Any campaign against AIDS that does not consider these cultural practices is not likely to succeed. But the question is, can the people be removed from these ingrained practices? How far are we ready to change these practices?
 Prostitution:- It constitutes another setting in which women have little power to protect themselves from HIV. Most young girls involved in prostitution are ignorant of the risk of contracting the HIV virus. Sexual exploitation of young girls in Cameroon is the most pernicious form of child abuse. While for some women, prostitution is a choice, many turn to occasional or steady sex work as an alternative to fight poverty, exchanging sex for basic necessities of life for themselves and their children. Some of these women are either divorcees or widows who because of inequitable laws and customs have lost their property as well as their husband’s earning power. The situation of economically unstable and not too viable single mother is most alarming.
 No Female Control Preventive Methods:- The Cameroonian woman does not have a suitable barrier method available for HIV prevention. The much-talked about female condom is little known and not yet widely used. Those who have heard of it or seen it complain that usage is not easy at all for various reasons. The only widely available effective method to prevent the heterosexual transmission of HIV is the male condom. There are no counseling services in the rural communities. Even where they exist most women will not seek HIV related counseling, testing, treatment and support for fear of being identified or face discrimination in case of positive result.
 Ignorance:- Most Cameroonian women do not have access to formal education for varied reasons and despite the available facilities. They therefore have very little information about their own bodies and education about HIV/AIDS. There are quite a large number of women who haven’t heard anything yet about AIDS and they remain ignorant of its existence, not to talk of its prevention.
Haven exposed the dangers of some of our cultures and tradition; it is obvious that the situation calls for a remedy – the empowerment of the rural woman. The Cameroonian woman needs to be empowered to have greater access/ control over the rate of HIV infections. Suggestions for such empowerment include:-
a) Literacy and adult education programmes as an important first approach. Steps should be taken to ensure that all, if not; most women in the very remote and rural areas of Cameroon and Africa in particular have education and information in its simplest form about basic human rights and HIV/AIDS. Women should be taught and encourage to negotiate safer sex and to say “NO” and be able to resist unsafe sex.
b) Women should be exposed to more income generating projects to allow the more autonomy. An economically independent woman does not need to exchange sex for her basic needs.
c) More healthy, available and accessible counseling services should be provided for women.
d) A forum should be made available for women to come together to expose cultural taboos that are detrimental to women’s health.
e) Female – controlled and easy to use preventive methods should be developed.
f) There should also be policy changes, particularly specific anti-discriminatory provisions for greater protection of women’s rights and increase economic independence and legal status. This should include a greater political voice for women.

HIV/AIDS AND MEDICAL CARE
The universal declaration of Human Rights in its Article 25 (1), the Cameroon 1996 constitution and WHO charter in its article 1, states that it is an individual’s inalienable right to get medical care when he is sick. Right now, the human race is perplexed by the HIV epidemic which has no vaccine or cure. The testing for HIV virus should be voluntary. It is an individual’s right to refuse to go for testing but such refusal is morally wrong where medical institution may want to conduct this test for statistical purposes, the consent of the blood donor / patient should be sought. It will be a medical malpractice if a doctor or a health institution conducts an HIV test on anyone without his consent. It has been poorly argued that for statistical purposes patients may be screened without their knowledge. Such an argument is unfounded and is in violation of the right of the patient, since the health status of an individual is a personal matter. HIV/AIDS is not a contagious illness. We have already seen that HIV could be contracted through coming in contact with HIV contaminated blood, semen or breast milk through blood infusions, blood contact, sexual intercourse, sharing needles or syringe. Therefore a doctor or medical institution that isolates HIV/AIDS patients may be liaised for discrimination and causing additional emotional pain and suffering. Is being HIV positive patient not enough punishment?
One can even classify such isolation, as punitive if the patient has contagious HIV related diseases. Why would anyone punish an HIV/AIDS patient? It is an actionable tort when a patient is given HIV contaminated blood or treated with HIV unspecialized medical instruments.
Antiretroviral drugs can reduce the level of HIV in blood and also treat HIV related infections, but in Cameroon, many infected persons especially those in rural communities have no access to these ARV’s. It is estimated that in many developing countries and Africa in particular, four out of every five person visit traditional health practitioners and use traditional treatments. Traditional healers already treat large numbers of people living with HIV and AIDS. It is therefore important to look into this area of healthcare. It is also important to improve the approaches to working with traditional doctors, this can improve HIV prevention and care services while continuing to advocate for improved access to modern medicine and treatment.
To help the Cameroonian population in the rural areas and most developing countries at large, medical officers should come up with programmes to train traditional health practitioners on the necessity of sterilizing blades and other sharp objects they use in administering their treatment, so as to minimize the risk of HIV infection. Appropriate training encourages traditional health practitioners to replace harmful practices or myths about HIV with safer practices. They should discourage the practice of witchcraft by not classifying the AIDS symptoms as caused by witchcraft. These traditional healers should be encouraged to promote sexual abstinence among youths and fidelity within married adults. Such values often agree with traditional beliefs about the causes of sexually transmitted infections and other illnesses and it is now recognized that reduction in the number of sex partners is a powerful factor in reducing HIV transmission. To pass on proper training in handling HIV/ AIDS cases to our traditional healers, workshops and seminars should be organized by the Ministry of Public Health. As far as legal issues are concerned, traditional healers must be made to understand that accusing people of being responsible of one’s misfortune or illness or death through witchcraft without proof is a defamatory statement and could lead to criminal prosecution.
AIDS AND EMPLOYMENT
An HIV infected person has right as all human beings do, amongst them, the right to work. The universal declaration of Human Rights states that “Every person shall have the right and obligations to work”. AIDS is an issue of human rights and it is necessary to protect the right of working men and women living with the virus, these rights inter alia are access to productive and decent work, social security benefits, health care and the right to confidentiality. In Cameroon, HIV/AIDS infected persons have had their rights to work trampled upon by employers. Applications of job seekers have been rejected because of their HIV/AIDS status. Working men and women with HIV/AIDS have suffered all forms of discrimination at their job sites. Gaining access to employment is a major problem for HIV infected persons. A number of companies now require job seekers to pass an HIV/AIDS test before employment. Men and women including those with HIV/AIDS have the right to work in condition of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. One of an employee’s greatest nightmares begins when he is known or presumed to be HIV positive. He suffers all forms of discrimination. He is isolated by his colleagues. In the private sector, he may be passed over for promotion and is not taken into consideration for training programmes no matter how hard he may work. At worst, the employer dismisses him. When one looks at the discrimination going on in the world of work against HIV/AIDS person, one might fear that in the long run such persons will be completely kept out of work. However this might not be the case as there are some employers who are beginning to realize that these person’s rights as human beings must be respected. Nevertheless, such actions will not go a long way in protecting the rights of HIV/AIDS persons on the whole, as some of the important issues to be addressed by the proposed law that will be of help to people living with AIDS are:
 A person should not be discriminated against with regard to terms and conditions of employment because of his HIV status, if he is otherwise qualified.
 The law should prohibit an employer from inquiring about an employee or job applicant medical status. This law should also provide for reasonable accommodations to enable HIV/AIDS workers perform the essential function of a job, that is, flexible working hours, time off for doctors appointment etc. this law must also lay out the various remedies available for HIV/AIDS persons where their rights have been violated. It doesn’t suffice to lay out the rights.
HIV/AIDS AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
In many African countries and Cameroon included there is an experience of growth in HIV/AIDS and this is evidence and increasing in ages between 18 to 40 years. This age bracket is considered to be that when the woman is sexually active and of child bearing age. Women are one of the fastest growing populations being infected with HIV and the number of AIDS cases among women is increasing steadily each year. Because the time of infection to developing AIDS can be variably long, many of these women acquire HIV in their teens or as soon as they become sexually active. Women are more at risk to be infected as male to female transmission is estimated to be eight times more likely than female to male. This is so because HIV is more easily transmitted from men to women due to greater expose surface area in the female genital track. Women do not as yet wear the condom, therefore they are not capable of protecting themselves from HIV infections. They can therefore not rely on their own skills, attitudes and behaviors regarding condom use. They have to rely on their ability to convince their partner to use a condom. Gender, culture and power may be barriers to maintaining safer sex practices. Women are disproportionally represented among the poor and the less likely to have access to health care services. Most of them will have to struggle for daily survival and may have no concern about HIV infections when having sexual relations and the impact may be felt many years later. Like many people in committed relationships, women might find intimacy in their relationships to be more important than protection against HIV. Usually, unsafe sex may be linked to emotional, social and possibly financial dependence on men. Women are furthermore vulnerable to be infected with HIV because they are mostly passive partners in sexual relations and can not be heard to refuse sex to their husbands or partners even if infection is suspected. They are vulnerable and not in a position to avoid infection because they either do not receive preventive education or information or cannot act on it, and when infected are disempowered to cope with the impact. The woman’s subordinate status limits opportunities to be informed about HIV/AIDS making them more vulnerable to infections and impairing their ability to deal with possible consequences of infection which require care and support. Women some times can not negotiate safer sex or leave their partners because of social and legal norms and economic dependency norms that promote motherhood as the ideal form of self worth. This increases the vulnerability to HIV and constrains reproductive choices for HIV positive women. Double standard about chastity and fidelity means that many monogamously married women are powerless to avoid infection by their husband. For many women, many of their HIV diagnoses can carry with it the devastating assumptions that they can and will never have children. Many others receive their diagnoses while pregnant this is so because many women are not tested for HIV unless they become pregnant or ill. And some women infected with HIV may decide to have their babies while others chose to have a termination. The decision to terminate a pregnancy is very personal since the Cameroonian law allows for termination on grounds of ill health. This article is an attempt to look at the reproductive right of unborn child and to say that the woman infected with HIV can still become pregnant and have a baby. Being pregnant will not increase the chances of developing AIDS. Research has shown that pregnancy does not speed HIV disease progression. Yes, a woman with an HIV positive test result has a right to become pregnant. The unborn baby has a right to live not withstanding the fact that his mother is HIV positive and stands the risk of being infected with the virus. It has been scientifically proven that not all babies born to an infected mother will have the virus at the time of birth. All babies born to mothers with HIV are born with HIVanti bodies but babies who are not infected loose their anti bodies by the time they are 18 months old. There is a possibility of the decline in numbers of the perinatally infected infant. This is due to:
The implementation of new knowledge in perinatal HIV prevention and treatment for pregnant women with HIV infection. AZT is the most commonly used and approved therapy for preventing transmission from mother to child. Delivery by elective caesarean sections also reduces the risk of a baby becoming infected. It is usually best for a baby to be breast fed. However, if the mother has HIV, breastfeeding will increase the risk of her baby becoming infected. Therefore a mother with HIV may not have to breast feed as bottle feeding is a safer alternative. The reduction in HIV transmission from mother to infant with the use of anti HIV drugs has been a remarkable success story. This major advance can be shared if there is easy access to the necessary drugs, adequate prenatal care, improved nutrition and prevention of breast feeding by the mother. All pregnant women ought to benefit from the informed counseling of the potential risk and benefits of using an optional and potent anti HIV regimen during pregnancy and then be allowed to make their own decision, unfortunately, little is known about the long term effects of this compound to the child. Due to so many unanswered questions, any HIV positive woman who is pregnant or considering pregnancy should seek the care or an advice of a clinician with experience and or knowledge of the latest break through in HIV research, this ensure the best possible prenatal care and the best possible out come for both the mother and child.
WOMEN AND HIV/AIDS-APRAGMATIC APPROACH
The health and wellbeing of women every where is of great important in its own rights. It is also the key to the health and wellbeing of their, family, communities and societies .but every year, millions of women in developing countries die in pregnancy and /or child birth. HIV presents an enormous challenge to safe motherhood. In sub Saharan Africa, millions of pregnant women are HIV positive. Women with HIV are likely to have complication during pregnancy and/or delivery, or abortion. They are also more vulnerable to anemia, malaria, pneumonia and tuberculosis (TB)both HIV prevention and care is an essential part of safe motherhood maternity services could play a crucial role by improving for pregnant women with HIV/AIDS before, during and after pregnancy. Fewer resources will be needed if programs work together.
 The vulnerability element: while it is important for men’s own health, that they become more involved in HIV prevention and care, there are important benefits for women too. Some of this links to women’s heightened vulnerability to HIV infection others tie more closely to equality and equity in care. Women’s vulnerability to HIV transmission is particularly a matter of biology. because virginal tissues if fragile , particularly in younger women, during unprotected virginal intercourse, an HIV man is twice as likely , to transmit the virus to an uninfected woman as an HIV positive is to infect her male partner . Women also made vulnerable by men’s greater economics and social power and by unequal gender relations. It is men who generally decided when and with whom to have sex and whether to use condoms or not. This leaves women with little or no control over these exposure to the deadly Virus it is men too who are usually the perpetrators of sexual violence whether in war or civil unrest or within ongoing relationships. in 1999 during the follow-up to the Beijing Fourth World Conferences on women, the 43rd session of the United Nation Commission on the statues of women attention was drawn to the need to educate women and men particularly young people, with a view to promoting equal relationships between men and women and to encourage to accept their responsibilities in matters relating to sexuality, reproduction and child bearing.
 Prevention through sex: there are many ways preventing the sexual transmission of HIV between women and their partners these includes abstinence, mutual fidelity, sex that does not involve virginal or anal penetration and condom use. However most prevention massages are simplicity and not tailored to the complex, and often hidden reality of men’s relationships with women or other men National AIDS campaigns have promoted abstinence outside marriage and fidelity within it wit some success. However, abstinence for young men is difficult and a menu of risk reduction option needs to be offered. The consistence use of male and female and female condoms in virginal or and sex also protects HIV and STI’s. Condoms, however, are under used for a variety of reason. In casual or commercial sex, men’s condom use is more common than in marriage but still often inconsistent in a study that was conducted in Zimbabwe, some two years ago, men interviewed had sex with prostitutes on an average of seven times a month but only used Condoms in about half of those encounters. Studies in many other countires have confirmed that female condom is an alternatives which some men and women find more comfortable than the male version. Like the male condom the female version can also be used for anal intercourse. Female condoms are, however much more expensive and difficult to acquire and because they remain visible during intercourse they still require male consent. When condoms are not used the prevalence of unsafe sex before an outside marriage plus the lack of HIV testing, means that millions of couple around the world, do not know whether they are practicing safer sex or not. Except when the goal is contraception introducing condoms use in a regular relationship, can be difficult. One problem is the difficulty of acknowledging premarital or casual sex and discussing the possibility of infection. For couples who wish to have children, the challenged is compounded by the fact that condoms interfere with procreation. A great deal of HIV transmission occurs as a result.
 Reproductive rights and choices: all women, regardless of their HIV status have the rights to choice whether and when to have children a woman who knows she is HIV positive , needs information about the HIV related risk of pregnancy for her self and her baby and how they can be reduced. But she most still be free to make her own decisions about whether or not to have children and should be supported in her choice.
 Ensuring mother’s rights to be healthy: All women need care and advice to help them remain healthy during their pregnancy. Protect women from HIV. The only completely reliable way to stop mother to child transmission of HIV is to prevent young girls and women from becoming HIV positive.
 Promote safe sex: Even after becoming pregnant, women should continue to practice safe sex unless they are absolutely certain that their partner is not HIV positive. Continuing to use condoms will also prevent STI’s. Keeping to one sexual partner makes sex safe on the condition that the partner is faithful.
 Test for, and treat all infection: An essential part of care for a pregnant woman is to look for, ask about and treat any infection she might have, especially those who are HIV positive. It is difficult for many women to decide what to eat because of poverty, customs or their status-leaving them fewer choices. Education about which local foods are most nutritious and the importance of pregnant women being well fed need to be un going. Discourage smoking and the use of alcohol and other drugs. Smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and the use of some drugs and herbal remedies can harm the unborn child. HIV positive women need to be especially careful because anything that damages their health can lower C D 4 counts.
 Provide Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV: Many women knowing their HIV status will help them make decisions that reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to their babies. The counselor might be a health worker such as a mid wife or a nurse, or may be a lay person. Peer counselors such as people who are themselves HIV positive. Can be very valuable.
 Points for Action:
 Gender awareness: promote understanding of the way in which gender stereotypes and expectation affects women and men. Support works that enhance gender equality and equity. Encourage discussion about the way girls are brought up and are expected to behave.
 Sexual communication and Negotiations: Encourage women to talk about sex with their partners enhance women’s capacity to determine when, where, and whether to have sex or not. Enhance both men and women access to appropriate sources to information, counseling and support. Promote greater understanding and acceptance of HIV/AIDS.
 Support and Care: Help women in their role as mother and providers of care and support within the family and community at large.
HUMAN RIGHTS, HIV/AIDS AND THE WOMAN
At the dawn of a new century, we still look at the future dominated by the deadly disease, which just a few decades ago were totally unknown. It may be shocking to know that over 75% of those infected with HIV live in the developing world, to which Cameroon belong. In this section, we will be considering the AIDS pandemic and HIV and how it affects women and children and what we can do about it.
1. The physiology of the woman: The mere fact that one is a woman has been proven, to make that person more vulnerable to contracting AIDS. Studies have confirmed that there is greater transmissibility of HIV from male to female. It has been estimated through research that the woman’s risk of being infected by HIV is at least twice that of a man. This is largely due to their physiological make up which has an extensive area of mucous membrane through which the virus get into the vaginal and to the cervix. Younger women, especially teenagers even run a greater risk due to their immature cervix and relatively low vaginal mucous. Production which are suspected to prevent less of a hindrance to HIV.
2. Childhood Marriages: In Cameroon like most African countries, young girls are given out to marriage as early as twelve years or even sooner. A girl child find herself married to a man who has maybe two other wives or children older than herself. He therefore has been sexually active for much longer and it is quite possible that he is already infected with HIV and as such, the girl child is of a very disadvantaged and pitiful position because as soon as soon as she indulges in sexual intercourse with her supposed husband, she finds herself with HIV.
3. Reproductive Health of Women: The fact that women carry pregnancies and are very dedicated during this period, makes them more vulnerable to epidemic. With complicated pregnancies and the need for blood transmission, the possibility of being infected is greater.
4. Labour Migration: Labour migration has been known to facilitate the spread of the disease with the woman again as the victim. Labour migration usually separates couples and leads to the establishment of temporarily migrant communities which are usually dominated by single sex most often man. This usually creates a market for prostitution as such; men have the money and need sex, so they are ready to pay for it. The examples are alive in Cameroon as we notice that wherever there has been the construction of roads, involving expatriate companies, who are Caucasians, we find a sudden prevalence of (mulatto) children (half-cast) which goes to demonstrate the sexual involvement of these workers in the community. The presence of these children is evidence that intercourse was done with no precaution. These types of women are far more prone to being infected with HIV.
5. Gender Inequality: Women in developing countries especially Cameroon and Africa at large are economically disadvantaged due to poor education, early marriages and no skill training which render them mostly unemployed. They are therefore dependent on men economically, which limits their choice on matters relating to health and sexuality. Also, the woman’s low social status and cultural demands which compares her to be always submissive to the male in sexual relations, further hampers her from controlling her sex life, she can not be heard to insist on the use of condoms. Also, the marital system of Polygamy which is prevalent in our towns and villages has the women at a disadvantaged position, as the husband goes from wife to wife can be infected by one wayward wife and the other wives will automatically be infected.
6. Women’s Attitude towards AIDS: The attitude of the woman herself in Cameroon to the issue of AIDS is quite alarming and a cause for concern. A study carried out with some female sex workers in Kumba, in the South West Province of Cameroon reveals that they all agree that AIDS exist, but they are doing nothing to protect themselves especially when the men are ready to pay huge sums of money. Some say they never use a condom with such clients the reason is simple. To these women, AIDS is not a reality as of now. For them, AIDS is something that affects other people not them. In their complacency, they feel out of the reach of AIDS. This non challence with which women in Cameroon have embraced the issue of AIDS requires that something more has to be done and urgently to raise awareness especially among female sex workers, female student on the dangers of AIDS and the fact that it is real.
7. Human Rights and Health: The universal declaration of Human Rights of 1948 gave the rights to every one to have a living standard sufficient to ensure one and his family good health as concerns food, clothing, housing, medical care and social services. Also, article 12 of the International Covenant on Economy, Social and Cultural rights also recognizes the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. These documents are the best legal and ideological weapons for protecting legal rights and autonomy of an individual. It therefore follows that for women to enjoy their human rights relating to health the following must be done;
 There has to be a cultural change which gives the woman the status of a partner in her marriage and not sub servant to her husband even on issues which concerns her health.
 There also has to be a free medical screening of HIV in all of the main towns of Cameroon where women can be encouraged at no cost to check themselves. For now, the cost of an HIV screening in Cameroon is 500 FRS ($1). This is still expensive.
 Empowerment of the woman economically is very important as it will make her independent to be able to control her sexuality if women are empowered economically, (by giving them some skills and small short term loans), they will find satisfaction in life and not continue to sell sex for a living.
 There has been a steep drop in our standards of morality. Infact, nowadays, you find high school and university girls kept by more than one “sugar daddies” who finance their acquired high taste. We call on the judges to do more in this area of moral rectitude to the girls and women whom the men have taken advantage of their vulnerability.
HIV/AIDS AND SOCIAL CONTROL
In the absence of a vaccine or cure, prevention is the only feasible strategy for fighting the HIV epidemic. This message of prevention has been preached for years, yet the spread of HIV virus is still on the increase. The estimated cumulative number of HIV infections worldwide has risen. About 80 - 90% is thought to be sexually transmitted. So has the prevention work?
The rise of the infection in developing countries seems to indicate a massive defeat of international response. However, as nobody knows the real virulence of HIV, of what would have happened with no planned prevention intervention, the score has to remain open. It may be that all the information, education and communication efforts and all the blood testing and counseling have infact prevented a much more devastating explosion internationally or in a certain local/national areas. Even without knowing precisely the impact of prevention effort on the spread of global HIV, the challenge remains in the absence of a vaccine prevention interventions will remain the key to HIV control. The information, education and communication approaches in the fight against HIV have stressed the change of behaviour in relation to sexual attitudes. Those who are sexually active are advised to adopt sexual behaviors that reduce the risk of infection. The intervention to break the chain of transmission is seen basically as a technique to physical barriers like condoms, behavioral barriers like the abstinence or partner reduction, to stop the passage of the virus from one person to another. Youths have been identified as the target of the information and education campaigns. To stop these youths from behaving sexually as they did in the past became the prime task of the prevention of all sexual transmission. Although it is true that in the end, each individual who acts sexually has to take responsibility for his/her action, it is nevertheless obvious that sexual behavior and consumption patterns are strongly influenced by gender, social, cultural and economic factors. What a given society regards as sexually right or wrong as a taboo, deviant or normal is decided by the individual actor, and not by a set of norms and values to which different gratifications and sanctions are attached. For example, in Africa the social inequality between men and women is most responsible for the spread of the virus. Women, especially youths generally lack the social power to set the terms of sexual relationships. Social isolation and lack of education limits their knowledge of prevention behavior. Young girls and women living in poverty are often enticed or coerced to trade sex for support or social promotion and maybe forced into prostitution or polygamous marriages, why inheritance and societal promotion and concentration of the male infidelity are factors which have been identified as favourable in the transmission of the virus and the AIDS disease. As a result of these factors, which centres largely on the vulnerability of a woman to HIV infection, the complete success of the prevention method a major break through is conceptual thinking has been negative. Therefore, a shift in emphasis must take place from concentration on individual behavioral change to addressing the social and cultural structure of sexual relations and the individual as part of a community and a network. In doing so, the state or community should also enhance the ability of women to control their sexual relationships. Men and women should talk openly about sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. The state or community should also encourage men to take care of themselves, their partners and families. Our society is plagued with some men who are irresponsible in every conceivable way. They have a denial syndrome and they blame everything on the woman. Our society also suffers from some promiscuous married women in the rural and urban cities, who have discriminate extra marital sex as a routine. The state or community must provide good and quality education of sexual health; HIV/AIDS and life preserving skills for youths in and out of schools.

[هيف/يدس], مقاربة شاملة
Automatically translated into Arabic thanks to WorldLingo
مقدمة
اعتبرت [أيدس] يكون كواحدة من ال أكثر يخرب علة من كلّ أوقات. يجعل الحقيقة أنّ بما أنّ في تاريخ هناك يكون ما من يعرف علاج, الحمى أكثر مخيفة من في أيّ وقت. قد كان العلة حوالي ل على 30 سنون, غير أنّ هو عجب أنّ بعض الناس (شباب [إين برتيكلر]) جلسة استماع صحيحة حول هو. يتلقّى أصله [نو لونجر] من أيّ نتيجة ما إذا هو عقوبة لأخلاقيتنا أو ماذا في أيّ وقت هو يكون, يوقف أن يكون من علاقة [أس يف] الآن كضحايا, ال أكثر بريئة [إي.]. أطفال وشباب.
ال [أيدس] أزمة الآن الأزمة من ال [دفلوب كونتري] والعالم, خصوصا إفريقيا. التناذر سريريّة العدوة عظيمة إلى هذا مميتة وكثير علة مدمّرة, بما أنّ يعدى أشخاص يستمرّون أن ينشر التلوث.
تغير [بهفيورل], قبول ب أنّ يعدى وتعاونهم الطريق وحيد نحو أن يتنازع الانتشار من هذا حمى.

تمهيد
[هيف/يدس]. يكون هو حزن أو لعنة? ماذا يكون هذا حمى أنّ يكون يحطّم خراب في نا مجتمعة ويحبط عقول علميّة?
قلت نحن يتلقّى يكون بعالمات أنّ [هيف] يقف لإنسانيّة [إيمّونودفيسنسي] حمى و [أيدس] يقف ل يكتسب محصّنة عجز تناذر, أيّ يكون المرحلة متأخّرة من المرض.
إن أنت تكون [هيف] [بوستيف], أعديت أنت مع الحمى وجسمك يتجاوب ب ينتج [هيف] أجسام. إن أنت تتلقّى منفذة إلى [هيف] [بلوود تست], سيبدي هو هذا [أنتي] أجسام.
مهما مرّة وأعديت فردة مع [هيف], هو يأخذ مبلغة مؤكّدة وقت قبل أن الكائن حيّ يطوّر أجسام, لذلك هناك مؤكّدة "نافذة فترة" عندما يعدى شخص سيختبر أحفور سلبيّ. هذا نافذة يدوم فترة ل غالبا بين أربعة أسابيع وستّة شهور, في [إإكسسبأيشنل كس] حتّى طويلا. أثناء هذا فترة كلّ [هيف] يعدى أشخاص معدّة.
قد أبدى علم طبيّة أنّ, [ا فو] أسابيع بعد تلوث; يختبر أقلية من يعدى أشخاص بعض أعراض حادّة, غالبا غير ملاحظ.
هناك بعد, أعدى كلّ [هيف] أشخاص يختبر فترة طويلة دون أمراض نموذجيّة جدّيّة الما يسمّى "لاعرضيّة" فترة. هذا فترة يستطيع دمت عدّة سنون.
أثناء هذا فترة لاعرضيّة, يعدى أشخاص يمكن أن يبثّ الحمى إلى أخرى. بعد هذا فترة, يظهر الأعراض أولى من التمزيق لدفاع محصّنة [إين ث فورم وف] [إيلّنسّس] مؤكّدة أيّ يتلقّى يكون أحلت ك [أيدس] يرتبط مركبة. يتبع المرحلة أخيرة من المرض "[فولّ بلوون]" [أيدس], عندما [هيف] يعدى شخص يطوّر [أن ور مور] من ال "انتهازيّة" تلوثات وأو سراطين. دعات الأمراض انتهازيّة لأنّ هم يستفيدون الفرصة يقدّم ب ال يضعف [إيمّون سستم]. التقدّميّة ينتج يضعف من الكائن حيّ أخيرا في الموت من المريضة. ما من اكتشفت علاج من (وما من تلقيح ضدّ) [هيف ينفكأيشن] أو [أيدس] يتلقّى بعد يكون.
عقارات يحبّون [إففيرنز] ([إفف]), [دلفيردين] ([دلف]), [نفيربين] ([نفب]), [أزت/3تك] ([كمبيفير]), [أزت/3تك/بك] ([تريزيفير]), [زيدوفودين] ([أزت]) و [ديدنوسن] ([دّي]) عندما يستعمل في إدماج أو مع أخرى تداوي يستطيع عاملت أو حسنت الطبيّة شرط و [قوليتي وف ليف] من ال يعدى شخص.
يعمل هذا عقارات ب يخفّض المبلغة ال [هيف] في الدم (تحميل فيروسيّة) ويزيد الرقم من [كد4] لمفاويّة خلايا, نوع من خلية محصّنة في الدم. عالمات يتلقّون أيضا يقولنا أنّ [هيف] يستطيع كنت بثثت من خلال
 يتلقّى جنس غير محميّ مع أحد ما الذي يكون [هيف] [بوستيف]. حوالي 80 [تو] 90 فكّرت نسبة مئويّة من التلوثات أن يكون جنسيّا بثثت.
 يشارك محاقن ويحقن تجهيز أيّ يتلقّى لم يكن بشكل صحيح طهّرت.
 يتلقّى يلوّح تجهيز طبيّة أيّ يتلقّى لم يكن بشكل صحيح طهّرت أو استعملت على الناس.
 يكون يعطى دم عمليّة بثّ أيّ يكون أعديت مع [هيف].
 تلقيح متبرّع مع [هيف] يعدى مني.
 عمليّة بثّ شاقوليّة [هيف] من أم إلى طفلة أثناء حالة حمل, طفلة ولادة أو [برست-فيدينغ]. [هيف/يدس] على إهتياج داخل ينبغي [دفلوب كونتري] وكامرون [إين برتيكلر]. هو قد قتل كثير ويقتل هو الفتريّة وجيل واسع حيلة من هذا عالم.
إفريقيا الآن منطقة مستوطنة أيّ واحدة يستطيع شببت إلى حرب منطقة. لا أحد حرّة - أنت إمّا ضحية من الحمى أو ضحية الخسارة القريبة, جار, صديقة أو معرفة يدّعى بالحمى. نحن نجد ضحايا أيّ يتلقّى يكون [لي ووت] من عمل لصحة أسباب أو فاتورة عال طبيّة. لا أحد ينطق ال يخشى اسم من الحمى كالسبب حقيقيّة من التعطيل. هو فقط همست. قد أمسك خوف القلوب الرجال وحالة قد استهلك بعض من أنّ الذي قد كان يفاد [هيف] [بوستيف]. هم قد تلاقوا قوات مع الهولة حمى أن يعدي [أس مني] [أونسوسبكت] الناس بريئة قبل أن يموت هم. السيادة قد همز معدل (7.2) من [هيف/يدس] في كامرون واحدة أن يكتب على [هيف/يدس], حقوق الإنسان تطوير [إتك.]. [س س تو] استثرت الشباب كامرون ووراء وأحضرت إلى الإصدارات خفيفة أنّ ضحايا من الحمى, طبيّة دكاترة, ومؤسسات (على حدّ سواء عامّة وخاصّة) يمكن كنت واجهت مع. بما أنّ [هيف/يدس] يكون مرض جديدة, كامرون لا يعكس قانون المعرفة حاليّة طبيّة أو بعض من المشاكل [سسو-لغل] أنّ قد طوّر نتيجة [هيف/يدس], [إتك.]. بما أنّ نحن نكون يتحدّث من حقوق الإنسان والقانون [إين رلأيشن تو] [هيف/يدس] ضحايا, هو ضروريّة أن يعرف ما حقوق الإنسان والقانون يكون
حقوق الإنسان يمكن كنت يعيّن كقواعد أنّ يكون يتماثل وقابل للتصريف وهم يكون يضمن كرامة إن ال [هومن رس]. هذا قواعد الأساس الحرية; عدل وسلام في العالم يضمن هم [هومن بينغ] يستمتع حرية من خطبة وإعتقاد, وحرية الخوف ويريد.
يشترط فنّ 25 (1) من الإعلان عالميّة حقوق الإنسان "أنّ كلّ واحدة يتلقّى الحقوق إلى معيار من يعيش كافية لصحة و [ولّ-بينغ] من بنفسي وأسرته, بما في ذلك طعام, لباس, إسكان و [مديكل كر], وخدمات ضروريّة اجتماعيّة والحق إلى أمن [إين ث فنت وف] بطالة, مرض, حالة عجز, ترمل و [ألد ج], أو أخرى افتقار الرزق في ظروف [بوند] تحكمه. [ويث رغردس تو] الآنفة هو أساسيّة أنّ يحمي حقوق الإنسان ب ال [رول وف لو], إن رجل ليس أن يكون أجبرت أن يتلقّى استعانة, ك [لست رسرت], إلى تمرد ضدّ إستبداد وإضطهاد.

حماية من [هيف/يدس] مريضات ضدّ تمييز
تمييز ضدّ أنّ يعيش مع [هيف/يدس] مكان عاديّة في مجتمعتنا. هو واحدة من الهامّة حقوق الإنسان أسواء أكثر في المنطقة ال [هيف/يدس]. هو يعرقل ال يشبع مشاركة ودمج الالناس يعيش مع [هيف/يدس] في الجماعة.
تمييز يستطيع أحد كنت مباشرة أو غيرمباشر. يقع تمييز مباشرة حيث شخص يعامل آخر بعض بإيجاب من شخص ثالثة يتلقّى يكون عاملت في ظروف قابل للمقارنة.
يقع تمييز غيرمباشر [أن ث ون هند] حيث غيرمعقول شروط أو متطلب, مثل [هيف] إجباريّة يختبر, يكون طبّقت مع [هيغر بروبورأيشن] شخص جوهريّا من وضع مختلفة, ينبغي كنت يمكن أن يذعن مع من أشخاص من ال نفسه وضع مثلما الشخص يدّعي أن يتلقّى يكون ميّزت ضدّ.
يتضمّن مناطق التمييز زواج, وظيفة, تربية, [مديكل ترتمنت], تكييف, هجرة/هجرة وعدّة أخرى.
هو سوفت كنت لاحظت أنّ بثثت [هيف] لا عرضا. مثال من عمليّة بثّ عرضيّة قطيرة تلوث, أيّ يقع مع يعطس, يسعل أو يشارك أدوات.
تمييز سوفت لذلك كنت حظّرت ضدّ أشخاص مع حقيقيّة يلاحظ أو يشكّ [هيف] وضع, وال [لغل رمدي] فعّالة أكثر التشريع من عامّة تمييز تشريع أيّ يحظّر ظالمة لاعلاقيّة تمييز كائن يجعل على الأرض ال [هيف/يدس].
هو سوفت كنت لاحظت أنّ في ب قام أن ينهي تمييز على هذا أراضي, أجبرت دول أن يحمي فردات من تمييز ليس فحسب [بوبليك وثوريتي] جانبيّة, غير أنّ أيضا ال [بريفت سكتور] و [بريفت ينديفيدول] في أنشطة عامّة.
يقلّل ضرر ضدّ [بلوها] مهمّة وعمليّة بما أنّ هو يزيل عوائق إلى [إرلي دينوسس] ومعالجة. مواقف مميّزة يستطيع لذلك كنت غيّرت ب يشرّع [أنتي-ديسكريمينتوري] وقانون واقية في مجلس نواب, من خلال تربية, تدريب والأوساط ويضمن [أدمينيسترتيف بروسدور] فعّالة لمسكن الشكاوي ضدّ هذا مواقف.
في كامرون تمييز و [ستيغمتيزأيشن] ضدّ الناس يعيش مع [هيف/يدس] جدّا عاديّة. يتلقّى الحكومة من خلال [هلث برسنّل] ه, [نغس] وبعض أجسام خاصّة من خلال محاضرات وأوساط برنامج يحاول أن يربّي واستثرت الجمهور على ال يمكن طرق من يتعاقد المرض. هذا في لقمة أن يتوقّف ال [سبردينغ] من المرض وثبّطت مواقف مميّزة نحو [هيف/يدس] مريضات غير أنّ يتواجد تمييز بعد وهناك بعد كثير أن يكون أتمّت أن يزيل أو استأصلت هو تماما.
a) يغيّر مواقف مميّزة من خلال مجلس نواب: ال [لغل رمدي] فعّالة أكثر التشريع من جنرال تشريع مميّزة [أنتي] أيّ يحظّر ظالمة وتمييز لاعلاقيّ يكون يجعل على يعيّن أراضي ضدّ ال [بلوها]. أمسكت ورش يتلقّى يكون في بعض بلاد أن يرفع حالة وعي من [هيف/يدس] إصدار واستثرت سياسيات إلى حق إنسانيّة إصدارات.
قد كان هذا ورش ناجحة في يخلق مناخ من غير تمييز وانفتاح في مجلس نواب. هو في هذا ورش أنّ مشتركات يعيش مع أسرة أعضاء أو صديقات أيّ يكون [هيف] يعدى يستطيع علنا اعترفت علاقتهم مع هذا يعدى أشخاص. هذا يستطيع غيّرت المواقف مميّزة من أخرى مشتركات ولذلك رصفت الطريق ل يتيح ممر من خلال مجلس نواب من قانون مميّزة [أنتي]. قد خلق في بعض بلاد مجلس نواب عمولة ل غير تمييز ضدّ [هيف] يعدى أشخاص [وهيلست] أخرى أجسام برلمانيّة يتلقّون عمل مع أخرى [أيدس] تنظيم أن يتنازع هذا تمييز. الهيئة تشريعيّة, [إين ا بيد تو] تنازعت تمييز ضدّ [بلوها] استطاع مكّنت "[أفّيرمتيف كأيشن]" مثلا جماعة مجموعة يمكن أعطيت أفضليّة إلى وظيفة إلى [هيف] الناس إيجابيّة لأنّ هم يكونون أعضاء من يحمى صنف أيّ يتلقّى يكون عرضت إلى تمييز عامّة.
من الواضح, معايير من يزوّد تمييز سوفت كنت خاطبت بالتشريع أو مثال, الهيئة تشريعيّة استطاع جعلت [هيف/] [أيدس] حالة عجز فقط واحدة من عدّة أسباب ل يتمّ عمل مميّزة; هذا بانفراد سوفت كنت كاف أن يعتمد قناعة في حالة يعيّن ضدّ فردات, مؤسسة, أو جسم ل يميّز ضدّ أنّ يعيش مع [هيف/يدس].
الهيئة تشريعيّة استطاع أيضا شرّعت قانون, أيّ يسمح توصيل عرضيّة [رثر ثن] برهان التصرّف إداريّ بين المميّزة تصرّف إداريّ و [هيف/يدس]/حالة عجز أن يكون متطلب إلى أسّس علاج.
مجلس نواب استطاع أيضا ضمنت الخلق من [أدمينيسترتيف بروسدور] فعّالة ل ينزل شكاوي وأعلم ضمنت الوجود العضو مستقلّ وجادّات سريعة لتقويم مثل حقوق الإنسان عمولة أيّ يتلقّى إجراءات خاصّة ل سريعا يتعقّب حالات حيث المتشكّ يكونون انتهائيّا شر. سيثبّط بضعة من هذا شكاوي بشكل صحيح يعالج تمييز. علاجات يميّزون بالمجلس نواب سوفت تواجدت لتمييز [سستميك] بشركات خصوصا [إمبلورس] [رثر ثن] بسيطة فردات حالة, أيّ قد حدّد تطبيق.
وظيفة, يكون واحدة منطقة رئيسيّة حيث مواقف مميّزة يكونون مكان عاديّة ضدّ أنّ يعيش مع [هيف/يدس], تجهيز إجباريّة أيّ يفيد أنّ استخدم الشخص إن هو يكون يمكن أن ينجز المتطلبات ملازمة من الشغل.
[ب]) يغيّر موقف مميّزة من خلال السلطة قضائيّة: في بعض بلاد, استهدفت السلطة قضائيّة يتلقّى يكون كجهاز في يغيّر مواقف مميّزة يصحب مع [هيف/يدس]. نظّمت ورش يتلقّى يكون أن يستثير قاضيات وخلقت حالة وعي من [هيف/يدس] إصدارات أنّ يمكن ظهرت في المحاكم [إ.غ.]. عمل يعيّن ب [بلوها] أو على منفعتهم ضدّ فردات أو تعاون لمواقف مميّزة نحو هم.
[ك]) يغيّر مواقف مميّزة بالدول: الدولة يستطيع أيضا غيّرت مواقف مميّزة ضدّ الناس يعيش مع [هيف/يدس] من خلال تربية, تدريب, والأوساط. استطاع الدولة, يستعمل مدى واسعة أوساط مثل أفلام, تلفزيون, راديو, [إتك] مع ذاتية مناسبة مثل أوساط مجموعة, [نغو], أداة ويوزّع يبرمج أن يروّج ودعمت الإحترام للحق وكرامة الالناس مع [هيف/يدس] وأعضاء من المجموعة حصينة هذا برنامج سوفت اتّجهت يبدّد أساطير وافتراضات, حول يعيش مع [هيف/يدس] ب يصفهم كصديقات, قريبات, زميلات, جار وشريكات. هذا شجاعة سوفت أيضا عزّزت الإعادة تأكيد في ما يتعلّق ب ال [مود وف ترنسميسّيون] من الحمى والأمان من اتّصال يوميّة اجتماعيّة.
التأثيرات سلبيّة مواقف من تمييز و [ستيغمتيزأيشن] يصحب مع [هيف/يدس] يستطيع لا يكون على يؤكّد. الناس يعيش مع ال [هيف] حمى يمكن أن يعيش معقولا طويلة وحيوات منتجة, بشكل خاصّ مع تقدم أخيرة في معالجة [أنتيرتروفيرل].
محاولة أن مبتسرا استثنيت الناس يعيش مع الحمى من القوّة عاملة ظالمة وثغر مخالف الحقوق الإنسان. هم أيضا احتماليّا [أونكنوميك] إن هم يستطيع بشكل اعتباطيّ استثنيت ال أكثر ينعت شخص من موقعة.
هذا مواقف تمييز ينبغي كنت ثبّطت وغيّرت. يحتاج أنّ يعيش مع الحمى أن يكون وإحساس يحمى من [ستيغمتيزأيشن] وتمييز بجماعاتهم. ل هذا يحمى إجراءات أن يكون طبّقت وال ب رغب تأثير صدمة لباد, يصمّم هو حاجة ال يتوافق جهود ليس فحسب من الدولة فحسب, أو مجلس نواب, غير أنّ كلّ واحد في على حدّ سواء الخاصّة والالقطاع العامّ أن يروّج ال يوسع وتوزيع جارية من مبتكرة تربية, تدريب وأوساط برامج بوضوح أن يغيّر مواقف من تمييز و [ستيغمتيزأيشن] ضدّ [هيف/يدس] إلى يفهم وقبول.
سحبت الدرع من سرية
سرية من القاعدة واسعة عموما قبل مبدأ من شخص يصحّ إلى عزلة. حق أيّ يكون قانونا وافقت كدرع من المخصص [أونورّنتد] من شخصية [أن 'س], ال يعلن من أحد [بريفت فّير] مع أيّ الجمهور يتلقّى ما من اهتمام شرعيّة. هذا مستقلّة جائز حق من الفردة ويمثّل انتهاكه ضرر. ميّز عميد [بروسّر], في عمله من على ضرر, أربعة أصناف الأضرار يعتنق ضمن الحقوق العزلة, سرية يكون واحدة من مثل هذا. حق أيّ يكون تنبّأت على الضمانة دستوريّة حياة, حرية والمطاردة من سعادة يسحب شهيق من الإعلان عالميّة حقوق الإنسان, أيّ يدعم القابل للتصريف وحقوق مقدّسة من الشخص, هو يستطيع كنت قلت أنّ عندما يضمن القانون إلى واحدة الحق أن يستمتع حياته, هبة إلى ه شيء أكثر من فقط الحق أن يتنفّس. يميّز الحرية أيّ هو يقود من [نتثرل لو] وبالدساتير وطنيّة يتضمّن الحق أن يعيش بما أنّ واحدة يختار [س لونغ س] أنّ إختبار لا يتدخّل مع الحق من ال آخر أو الجمهور. هو ضمن هذا كحول أنّ يضمن قانون دوليّة بما أنّ يدّخر في الإعلان عالميّة حقوق الإنسان الحق إلى عزلة مع القانون كالحراسة. يميّزبنفسي سرية مهما من [ألّ ث] أخرى حقوق العزلة في أنّ, هو ينشأ من علاقة ائتمانيّة من أيّ يتدفّق كشوف يكشف على منصة الثقة, ثقة والمشكّكة [غود فيث] وصراحة أيّ هو يتطلّب.
السرّيّة طبيبة يسقط علاقة صبور ضمن هذا صنف. سرية يسمح تبادل خصوصيّة معلومة يسهّل عناية مناسبة ويصحّ تشخيص. الطبيبة يمثّل واجب رسم درع واقية ضدّ التدخل غيرمطلوب من أخرى. مع القدوم من ال [هيف] حمى, قد طوّر كثير مستشفيات يدعم بقوّة المبدأ السرية كلمة سرّ أيّ يستطيع فقط كنت فسّرت بالمحترفات طبيّة بنفسي أن يشير الحمى. Infact the health care provider is set to own the medical records but the patient owns the information with the records.
The principle of confidentiality is not absolute Ethical, legal and statutory obligations may permit physicians to disclose information when legally requested by the court or for the purpose of legal investigations or referred to him in his capacity as a medical expert. At a minimum health care professionals have an ethical duty to inform patients prior to testing, as well as upon receipt of result that the, information obtained may have familiar implications. A person tested positive with the HIV virus automatically puts the wife/husband at risk. In such case exceptional disclosures are permissible when: -
 Attempts to encourage disclosure on the part of patients have failed
 The harm is highly likely to occur and if serious, imminent and foreseeable.
 The “at risk” relatives are identifiable and
 The disease is preventable

WOMEN’S VULNERABILITY TO HIV/AIDS IN CAMEROON
Of the 18million people living in Cameroon, about 52% are girls and women belonging to diverse cultures and religions. These women or girls represent a fascinating weave of modernity and tradition, progress and backwardness. A common stand that runs through this weaves is that of inequality between the privilege and not so privilege, between urban and rural, between men and women. The woman however have continued to make strides towards equality with men; whenever they are educated able to generate income and enjoy equal protection under the law, they are in a position to have some control over their economic, social and personal life. However, these goals are still remote for millions of Cameroonians who are vulnerable to HIV infections. This vulnerability is no doubt due to the number of factors
a) Biological Vulnerability; this applies generally to all women, the Cameroonian women inclusive. It is gathered from several sources that the risk of being infected with HIV as with other transmissible diseases during unprotected sexual intercourse, is as much as two to four times higher for women than men. This is because, as compared to men, women have a larger mucosal surface exposed during intercourse to their partner’s secretion. Since semen that is infected contains a higher concentration of the virus than a woman’s sexual secretions, this makes male to female transmission more efficient than female to male. In young girls their physiological immune cervix and scant secretion puts up fewer barriers to HIV so that they are at even greater biological risk. Tearing and bleeding during sexual intercourse whether from rough sex, rape, or prior genital mutilation (female circumcision), multiplies the risk of HIV infections in women. Anal intercourse practiced by some women as a means of preserving virginity or avoiding risk of pregnancy, often tears the delicate tissue and affords easy entry of the virus.
Another biological factor of great importance is an untreated sexually transmitted infection (STI)
in either partner, which multiplies the risk of HIV transmission by up to 10-fold.
Women are also epidemically vulnerable through blood transfusion during pregnancy or child birth.
b) Social vulnerability; social vulnerability despite constitutional and legislative guarantees, the unequal states of women is greatly manifested in almost all social aspects. For most Cameroonian women, their social standing and interaction in a male dominated society greatly contributed to the deadly diseases. The situation is such that most men expect sex with any woman who receives their support resulting in sexual subordination thus creating a very unhealthy atmosphere for AIDS prevention .Social attitudes are such that initiative and decision making in sex is left to the dominants males. Thus most women have no skills to resist or say no to unwanted and unsafe sex. Another issue of concern is the growing demand for younger sex partners, the sugar daddy phenomenon where old men offer young girls gifts and huge sums of money in exchange for sex. In other instances sex is the “currency” for pass grades, jobs opportunities. The high rate of promiscuity and acceptable infidelity is dangerous fertile grounds for women’s vulnerability.
c) Economic Vulnerability: due to the economic situation and circumstances, women’s autonomy is crippled. Lacking economic resources of their own, most women are vulnerable because they depend on the on men for support. In almost all cases men expect sex with any woman who receives their supports. Being fearful of abandonment or violence on the part of their male partners, they have little or no control over how and when they have sex and when and hence over the risk of becoming infected with HIV. In some areas, women have several male partners who provide support for their children’s needs and other necessities. The drastic cut in salaries in the 90’s and the economic crisis having dealt most Cameroonians a blow, women’s dependence on men’s support drastically increased. Furthermore, women also face a double burden relative to the epidemic. They are not only more vulnerable than men to acquiring the infection, but they also bear the greatest responsibility in providing care to infected family members.
1) Cultural and Traditional Practices: most of the campaigns on the fight against HIV/AIDS have so far been focused on orthodox means such as multiple sex partners , sharing of needles, blood transfusion and congenial infection from an infected mother to an unborn child among others. Research have shown that rooted in people’s cultures and traditional practices in Cameroon as in other African countries, are practice that are more dangerous potentials means of spreading the dreaded Virus. Some of these practices involve skin cut, lesions, wife inheritance, and widowhood rights, tribal marks, body scarification, tattoos, blood letting and female circumcision as explain below.
 Scarification by native / traditional doctors; this practice is pervasive amongst most Cameroonian even the elites. People still secretly visit these native doctors for charms and native powers to induce diverse kinds of favors such as promotion, monetary rewards, and insurance against perceived enemies including witches and wizards. Most native doctors satisfy these discrete but pervasive wishes by scarifying their clients and applying substances believed to possess powers to produce the desired results. There is the practice of scarifying the face in most tribes leaving terrible and sometimes very frightful and embarrassing tribal marks. The truth is that the surgical knives, blades, broken bottles, or sharp edged stones often used by these native doctors and elders of these tribes are not sterilized and the same tools are used on as many clients as possible. In the course of these practices, there is inevitable blood transfusion, a channel of contracting the HIV virus
 Widowhood rites / Wife Inheritance: In many African countries and Cameroonian tribes, a widow is compelled to sleep with her brother-in-law, presumably to make her pure and free from the curse of being a widow or being revisited by the dead husband. It is nobody’s business to know if the woman or brother-in-law is HIV positive. In other cases, the late husband’s brother, cousin or other male relation not minding the health status of either parties inherit the widow. There is also the practice in some villages whereby elderly and most often single men without children marry younger women of child bearing age to bear children for them, with no regard to the health status of the man or the woman.
 Female circumcision:- Despite international efforts and national and official attempts to outlaw it, female circumcision is still practiced in some parts of Cameroon especially the South and North West Provinces. It is considered an important cultural practice, which curbs immoral behaviour and gives guidance to the initiates on important matters of life. In most cases, older women carryout the circumcision as it is the case with scarification, the same instruments are employed for several cases with no regard to the health risks involved. Any campaign against AIDS that does not consider these cultural practices is not likely to succeed. But the question is, can the people be removed from these ingrained practices? How far are we ready to change these practices?
 Prostitution:- It constitutes another setting in which women have little power to protect themselves from HIV. Most young girls involved in prostitution are ignorant of the risk of contracting the HIV virus. Sexual exploitation of young girls in Cameroon is the most pernicious form of child abuse. While for some women, prostitution is a choice, many turn to occasional or steady sex work as an alternative to fight poverty, exchanging sex for basic necessities of life for themselves and their children. Some of these women are either divorcees or widows who because of inequitable laws and customs have lost their property as well as their husband’s earning power. The situation of economically unstable and not too viable single mother is most alarming.
 No Female Control Preventive Methods:- The Cameroonian woman does not have a suitable barrier method available for HIV prevention. The much-talked about female condom is little known and not yet widely used. Those who have heard of it or seen it complain that usage is not easy at all for various reasons. The only widely available effective method to prevent the heterosexual transmission of HIV is the male condom. There are no counseling services in the rural communities. Even where they exist most women will not seek HIV related counseling, testing, treatment and support for fear of being identified or face discrimination in case of positive result.
 Ignorance:- Most Cameroonian women do not have access to formal education for varied reasons and despite the available facilities. They therefore have very little information about their own bodies and education about HIV/AIDS. There are quite a large number of women who haven’t heard anything yet about AIDS and they remain ignorant of its existence, not to talk of its prevention.
Haven exposed the dangers of some of our cultures and tradition; it is obvious that the situation calls for a remedy – the empowerment of the rural woman. The Cameroonian woman needs to be empowered to have greater access/ control over the rate of HIV infections. Suggestions for such empowerment include:-
a) Literacy and adult education programmes as an important first approach. Steps should be taken to ensure that all, if not; most women in the very remote and rural areas of Cameroon and Africa in particular have education and information in its simplest form about basic human rights and HIV/AIDS. Women should be taught and encourage to negotiate safer sex and to say “NO” and be able to resist unsafe sex.
b) Women should be exposed to more income generating projects to allow the more autonomy. An economically independent woman does not need to exchange sex for her basic needs.
c) More healthy, available and accessible counseling services should be provided for women.
d) A forum should be made available for women to come together to expose cultural taboos that are detrimental to women’s health.
e) Female – controlled and easy to use preventive methods should be developed.
f) There should also be policy changes, particularly specific anti-discriminatory provisions for greater protection of women’s rights and increase economic independence and legal status. This should include a greater political voice for women.

HIV/AIDS AND MEDICAL CARE
The universal declaration of Human Rights in its Article 25 (1), the Cameroon 1996 constitution and WHO charter in its article 1, states that it is an individual’s inalienable right to get medical care when he is sick. Right now, the human race is perplexed by the HIV epidemic which has no vaccine or cure. The testing for HIV virus should be voluntary. It is an individual’s right to refuse to go for testing but such refusal is morally wrong where medical institution may want to conduct this test for statistical purposes, the consent of the blood donor / patient should be sought. It will be a medical malpractice if a doctor or a health institution conducts an HIV test on anyone without his consent. It has been poorly argued that for statistical purposes patients may be screened without their knowledge. Such an argument is unfounded and is in violation of the right of the patient, since the health status of an individual is a personal matter. HIV/AIDS is not a contagious illness. We have already seen that HIV could be contracted through coming in contact with HIV contaminated blood, semen or breast milk through blood infusions, blood contact, sexual intercourse, sharing needles or syringe. Therefore a doctor or medical institution that isolates HIV/AIDS patients may be liaised for discrimination and causing additional emotional pain and suffering. Is being HIV positive patient not enough punishment?
One can even classify such isolation, as punitive if the patient has contagious HIV related diseases. Why would anyone punish an HIV/AIDS patient? It is an actionable tort when a patient is given HIV contaminated blood or treated with HIV unspecialized medical instruments.
Antiretroviral drugs can reduce the level of HIV in blood and also treat HIV related infections, but in Cameroon, many infected persons especially those in rural communities have no access to these ARV’s. It is estimated that in many developing countries and Africa in particular, four out of every five person visit traditional health practitioners and use traditional treatments. Traditional healers already treat large numbers of people living with HIV and AIDS. It is therefore important to look into this area of healthcare. It is also important to improve the approaches to working with traditional doctors, this can improve HIV prevention and care services while continuing to advocate for improved access to modern medicine and treatment.
To help the Cameroonian population in the rural areas and most developing countries at large, medical officers should come up with programmes to train traditional health practitioners on the necessity of sterilizing blades and other sharp objects they use in administering their treatment, so as to minimize the risk of HIV infection. Appropriate training encourages traditional health practitioners to replace harmful practices or myths about HIV with safer practices. They should discourage the practice of witchcraft by not classifying the AIDS symptoms as caused by witchcraft. These traditional healers should be encouraged to promote sexual abstinence among youths and fidelity within married adults. Such values often agree with traditional beliefs about the causes of sexually transmitted infections and other illnesses and it is now recognized that reduction in the number of sex partners is a powerful factor in reducing HIV transmission. To pass on proper training in handling HIV/ AIDS cases to our traditional healers, workshops and seminars should be organized by the Ministry of Public Health. As far as legal issues are concerned, traditional healers must be made to understand that accusing people of being responsible of one’s misfortune or illness or death through witchcraft without proof is a defamatory statement and could lead to criminal prosecution.
AIDS AND EMPLOYMENT
An HIV infected person has right as all human beings do, amongst them, the right to work. The universal declaration of Human Rights states that “Every person shall have the right and obligations to work”. AIDS is an issue of human rights and it is necessary to protect the right of working men and women living with the virus, these rights inter alia are access to productive and decent work, social security benefits, health care and the right to confidentiality. In Cameroon, HIV/AIDS infected persons have had their rights to work trampled upon by employers. Applications of job seekers have been rejected because of their HIV/AIDS status. Working men and women with HIV/AIDS have suffered all forms of discrimination at their job sites. Gaining access to employment is a major problem for HIV infected persons. A number of companies now require job seekers to pass an HIV/AIDS test before employment. Men and women including those with HIV/AIDS have the right to work in condition of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. One of an employee’s greatest nightmares begins when he is known or presumed to be HIV positive. He suffers all forms of discrimination. He is isolated by his colleagues. In the private sector, he may be passed over for promotion and is not taken into consideration for training programmes no matter how hard he may work. At worst, the employer dismisses him. When one looks at the discrimination going on in the world of work against HIV/AIDS person, one might fear that in the long run such persons will be completely kept out of work. However this might not be the case as there are some employers who are beginning to realize that these person’s rights as human beings must be respected. Nevertheless, such actions will not go a long way in protecting the rights of HIV/AIDS persons on the whole, as some of the important issues to be addressed by the proposed law that will be of help to people living with AIDS are:
 A person should not be discriminated against with regard to terms and conditions of employment because of his HIV status, if he is otherwise qualified.
 The law should prohibit an employer from inquiring about an employee or job applicant medical status. This law should also provide for reasonable accommodations to enable HIV/AIDS workers perform the essential function of a job, that is, flexible working hours, time off for doctors appointment etc. this law must also lay out the various remedies available for HIV/AIDS persons where their rights have been violated. It doesn’t suffice to lay out the rights.
HIV/AIDS AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
In many African countries and Cameroon included there is an experience of growth in HIV/AIDS and this is evidence and increasing in ages between 18 to 40 years. This age bracket is considered to be that when the woman is sexually active and of child bearing age. Women are one of the fastest growing populations being infected with HIV and the number of AIDS cases among women is increasing steadily each year. Because the time of infection to developing AIDS can be variably long, many of these women acquire HIV in their teens or as soon as they become sexually active. Women are more at risk to be infected as male to female transmission is estimated to be eight times more likely than female to male. This is so because HIV is more easily transmitted from men to women due to greater expose surface area in the female genital track. Women do not as yet wear the condom, therefore they are not capable of protecting themselves from HIV infections. They can therefore not rely on their own skills, attitudes and behaviors regarding condom use. They have to rely on their ability to convince their partner to use a condom. Gender, culture and power may be barriers to maintaining safer sex practices. Women are disproportionally represented among the poor and the less likely to have access to health care services. Most of them will have to struggle for daily survival and may have no concern about HIV infections when having sexual relations and the impact may be felt many years later. Like many people in committed relationships, women might find intimacy in their relationships to be more important than protection against HIV. Usually, unsafe sex may be linked to emotional, social and possibly financial dependence on men. Women are furthermore vulnerable to be infected with HIV because they are mostly passive partners in sexual relations and can not be heard to refuse sex to their husbands or partners even if infection is suspected. They are vulnerable and not in a position to avoid infection because they either do not receive preventive education or information or cannot act on it, and when infected are disempowered to cope with the impact. The woman’s subordinate status limits opportunities to be informed about HIV/AIDS making them more vulnerable to infections and impairing their ability to deal with possible consequences of infection which require care and support. Women some times can not negotiate safer sex or leave their partners because of social and legal norms and economic dependency norms that promote motherhood as the ideal form of self worth. This increases the vulnerability to HIV and constrains reproductive choices for HIV positive women. Double standard about chastity and fidelity means that many monogamously married women are powerless to avoid infection by their husband. For many women, many of their HIV diagnoses can carry with it the devastating assumptions that they can and will never have children. Many others receive their diagnoses while pregnant this is so because many women are not tested for HIV unless they become pregnant or ill. And some women infected with HIV may decide to have their babies while others chose to have a termination. The decision to terminate a pregnancy is very personal since the Cameroonian law allows for termination on grounds of ill health. This article is an attempt to look at the reproductive right of unborn child and to say that the woman infected with HIV can still become pregnant and have a baby. Being pregnant will not increase the chances of developing AIDS. Research has shown that pregnancy does not speed HIV disease progression. Yes, a woman with an HIV positive test result has a right to become pregnant. The unborn baby has a right to live not withstanding the fact that his mother is HIV positive and stands the risk of being infected with the virus. It has been scientifically proven that not all babies born to an infected mother will have the virus at the time of birth. All babies born to mothers with HIV are born with HIVanti bodies but babies who are not infected loose their anti bodies by the time they are 18 months old. There is a possibility of the decline in numbers of the perinatally infected infant. This is due to:
The implementation of new knowledge in perinatal HIV prevention and treatment for pregnant women with HIV infection. AZT is the most commonly used and approved therapy for preventing transmission from mother to child. Delivery by elective caesarean sections also reduces the risk of a baby becoming infected. It is usually best for a baby to be breast fed. However, if the mother has HIV, breastfeeding will increase the risk of her baby becoming infected. Therefore a mother with HIV may not have to breast feed as bottle feeding is a safer alternative. The reduction in HIV transmission from mother to infant with the use of anti HIV drugs has been a remarkable success story. This major advance can be shared if there is easy access to the necessary drugs, adequate prenatal care, improved nutrition and prevention of breast feeding by the mother. All pregnant women ought to benefit from the informed counseling of the potential risk and benefits of using an optional and potent anti HIV regimen during pregnancy and then be allowed to make their own decision, unfortunately, little is known about the long term effects of this compound to the child. Due to so many unanswered questions, any HIV positive woman who is pregnant or considering pregnancy should seek the care or an advice of a clinician with experience and or knowledge of the latest break through in HIV research, this ensure the best possible prenatal care and the best possible out come for both the mother and child.
WOMEN AND HIV/AIDS-APRAGMATIC APPROACH
The health and wellbeing of women every where is of great important in its own rights. It is also the key to the health and wellbeing of their, family, communities and societies .but every year, millions of women in developing countries die in pregnancy and /or child birth. HIV presents an enormous challenge to safe motherhood. In sub Saharan Africa, millions of pregnant women are HIV positive. Women with HIV are likely to have complication during pregnancy and/or delivery, or abortion. They are also more vulnerable to anemia, malaria, pneumonia and tuberculosis (TB)both HIV prevention and care is an essential part of safe motherhood maternity services could play a crucial role by improving for pregnant women with HIV/AIDS before, during and after pregnancy. Fewer resources will be needed if programs work together.
 The vulnerability element: while it is important for men’s own health, that they become more involved in HIV prevention and care, there are important benefits for women too. Some of this links to women’s heightened vulnerability to HIV infection others tie more closely to equality and equity in care. Women’s vulnerability to HIV transmission is particularly a matter of biology. because virginal tissues if fragile , particularly in younger women, during unprotected virginal intercourse, an HIV man is twice as likely , to transmit the virus to an uninfected woman as an HIV positive is to infect her male partner . Women also made vulnerable by men’s greater economics and social power and by unequal gender relations. It is men who generally decided when and with whom to have sex and whether to use condoms or not. This leaves women with little or no control over these exposure to the deadly Virus it is men too who are usually the perpetrators of sexual violence whether in war or civil unrest or within ongoing relationships. in 1999 during the follow-up to the Beijing Fourth World Conferences on women, the 43rd session of the United Nation Commission on the statues of women attention was drawn to the need to educate women and men particularly young people, with a view to promoting equal relationships between men and women and to encourage to accept their responsibilities in matters relating to sexuality, reproduction and child bearing.
 Prevention through sex: there are many ways preventing the sexual transmission of HIV between women and their partners these includes abstinence, mutual fidelity, sex that does not involve virginal or anal penetration and condom use. However most prevention massages are simplicity and not tailored to the complex, and often hidden reality of men’s relationships with women or other men National AIDS campaigns have promoted abstinence outside marriage and fidelity within it wit some success. However, abstinence for young men is difficult and a menu of risk reduction option needs to be offered. The consistence use of male and female and female condoms in virginal or and sex also protects HIV and STI’s. Condoms, however, are under used for a variety of reason. In casual or commercial sex, men’s condom use is more common than in marriage but still often inconsistent in a study that was conducted in Zimbabwe, some two years ago, men interviewed had sex with prostitutes on an average of seven times a month but only used Condoms in about half of those encounters. Studies in many other countires have confirmed that female condom is an alternatives which some men and women find more comfortable than the male version. Like the male condom the female version can also be used for anal intercourse. Female condoms are, however much more expensive and difficult to acquire and because they remain visible during intercourse they still require male consent. When condoms are not used the prevalence of unsafe sex before an outside marriage plus the lack of HIV testing, means that millions of couple around the world, do not know whether they are practicing safer sex or not. Except when the goal is contraception introducing condoms use in a regular relationship, can be difficult. One problem is the difficulty of acknowledging premarital or casual sex and discussing the possibility of infection. For couples who wish to have children, the challenged is compounded by the fact that condoms interfere with procreation. A great deal of HIV transmission occurs as a result.
 Reproductive rights and choices: all women, regardless of their HIV status have the rights to choice whether and when to have children a woman who knows she is HIV positive , needs information about the HIV related risk of pregnancy for her self and her baby and how they can be reduced. But she most still be free to make her own decisions about whether or not to have children and should be supported in her choice.
 Ensuring mother’s rights to be healthy: All women need care and advice to help them remain healthy during their pregnancy. Protect women from HIV. The only completely reliable way to stop mother to child transmission of HIV is to prevent young girls and women from becoming HIV positive.
 Promote safe sex: Even after becoming pregnant, women should continue to practice safe sex unless they are absolutely certain that their partner is not HIV positive. Continuing to use condoms will also prevent STI’s. Keeping to one sexual partner makes sex safe on the condition that the partner is faithful.
 Test for, and treat all infection: An essential part of care for a pregnant woman is to look for, ask about and treat any infection she might have, especially those who are HIV positive. It is difficult for many women to decide what to eat because of poverty, customs or their status-leaving them fewer choices. Education about which local foods are most nutritious and the importance of pregnant women being well fed need to be un going. Discourage smoking and the use of alcohol and other drugs. Smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and the use of some drugs and herbal remedies can harm the unborn child. HIV positive women need to be especially careful because anything that damages their health can lower C D 4 counts.
 Provide Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV: Many women knowing their HIV status will help them make decisions that reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to their babies. The counselor might be a health worker such as a mid wife or a nurse, or may be a lay person. Peer counselors such as people who are themselves HIV positive. Can be very valuable.
 Points for Action:
 Gender awareness: promote understanding of the way in which gender stereotypes and expectation affects women and men. Support works that enhance gender equality and equity. Encourage discussion about the way girls are brought up and are expected to behave.
 Sexual communication and Negotiations: Encourage women to talk about sex with their partners enhance women’s capacity to determine when, where, and whether to have sex or not. Enhance both men and women access to appropriate sources to information, counseling and support. Promote greater understanding and acceptance of HIV/AIDS.
 Support and Care: Help women in their role as mother and providers of care and support within the family and community at large.
HUMAN RIGHTS, HIV/AIDS AND THE WOMAN
At the dawn of a new century, we still look at the future dominated by the deadly disease, which just a few decades ago were totally unknown. It may be shocking to know that over 75% of those infected with HIV live in the developing world, to which Cameroon belong. In this section, we will be considering the AIDS pandemic and HIV and how it affects women and children and what we can do about it.
1. The physiology of the woman: The mere fact that one is a woman has been proven, to make that person more vulnerable to contracting AIDS. Studies have confirmed that there is greater transmissibility of HIV from male to female. It has been estimated through research that the woman’s risk of being infected by HIV is at least twice that of a man. This is largely due to their physiological make up which has an extensive area of mucous membrane through which the virus get into the vaginal and to the cervix. Younger women, especially teenagers even run a greater risk due to their immature cervix and relatively low vaginal mucous. Production which are suspected to prevent less of a hindrance to HIV.
2. Childhood Marriages: In Cameroon like most African countries, young girls are given out to marriage as early as twelve years or even sooner. A girl child find herself married to a man who has maybe two other wives or children older than herself. He therefore has been sexually active for much longer and it is quite possible that he is already infected with HIV and as such, the girl child is of a very disadvantaged and pitiful position because as soon as soon as she indulges in sexual intercourse with her supposed husband, she finds herself with HIV.
3. Reproductive Health of Women: The fact that women carry pregnancies and are very dedicated during this period, makes them more vulnerable to epidemic. With complicated pregnancies and the need for blood transmission, the possibility of being infected is greater.
4. Labour Migration: Labour migration has been known to facilitate the spread of the disease with the woman again as the victim. Labour migration usually separates couples and leads to the establishment of temporarily migrant communities which are usually dominated by single sex most often man. This usually creates a market for prostitution as such; men have the money and need sex, so they are ready to pay for it. The examples are alive in Cameroon as we notice that wherever there has been the construction of roads, involving expatriate companies, who are Caucasians, we find a sudden prevalence of (mulatto) children (half-cast) which goes to demonstrate the sexual involvement of these workers in the community. The presence of these children is evidence that intercourse was done with no precaution. These types of women are far more prone to being infected with HIV.
5. Gender Inequality: Women in developing countries especially Cameroon and Africa at large are economically disadvantaged due to poor education, early marriages and no skill training which render them mostly unemployed. They are therefore dependent on men economically, which limits their choice on matters relating to health and sexuality. Also, the woman’s low social status and cultural demands which compares her to be always submissive to the male in sexual relations, further hampers her from controlling her sex life, she can not be heard to insist on the use of condoms. Also, the marital system of Polygamy which is prevalent in our towns and villages has the women at a disadvantaged position, as the husband goes from wife to wife can be infected by one wayward wife and the other wives will automatically be infected.
6. Women’s Attitude towards AIDS: The attitude of the woman herself in Cameroon to the issue of AIDS is quite alarming and a cause for concern. A study carried out with some female sex workers in Kumba, in the South West Province of Cameroon reveals that they all agree that AIDS exist, but they are doing nothing to protect themselves especially when the men are ready to pay huge sums of money. Some say they never use a condom with such clients the reason is simple. To these women, AIDS is not a reality as of now. For them, AIDS is something that affects other people not them. In their complacency, they feel out of the reach of AIDS. This non challence with which women in Cameroon have embraced the issue of AIDS requires that something more has to be done and urgently to raise awareness especially among female sex workers, female student on the dangers of AIDS and the fact that it is real.
7. Human Rights and Health: The universal declaration of Human Rights of 1948 gave the rights to every one to have a living standard sufficient to ensure one and his family good health as concerns food, clothing, housing, medical care and social services. Also, article 12 of the International Covenant on Economy, Social and Cultural rights also recognizes the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. These documents are the best legal and ideological weapons for protecting legal rights and autonomy of an individual. It therefore follows that for women to enjoy their human rights relating to health the following must be done;
 There has to be a cultural change which gives the woman the status of a partner in her marriage and not sub servant to her husband even on issues which concerns her health.
 There also has to be a free medical screening of HIV in all of the main towns of Cameroon where women can be encouraged at no cost to check themselves. For now, the cost of an HIV screening in Cameroon is 500 FRS ($1). This is still expensive.
 Empowerment of the woman economically is very important as it will make her independent to be able to control her sexuality if women are empowered economically, (by giving them some skills and small short term loans), they will find satisfaction in life and not continue to sell sex for a living.
 There has been a steep drop in our standards of morality. Infact, nowadays, you find high school and university girls kept by more than one “sugar daddies” who finance their acquired high taste. We call on the judges to do more in this area of moral rectitude to the girls and women whom the men have taken advantage of their vulnerability.
HIV/AIDS AND SOCIAL CONTROL
In the absence of a vaccine or cure, prevention is the only feasible strategy for fighting the HIV epidemic. This message of prevention has been preached for years, yet the spread of HIV virus is still on the increase. The estimated cumulative number of HIV infections worldwide has risen. About 80 - 90% is thought to be sexually transmitted. So has the prevention work?
The rise of the infection in developing countries seems to indicate a massive defeat of international response. However, as nobody knows the real virulence of HIV, of what would have happened with no planned prevention intervention, the score has to remain open. It may be that all the information, education and communication efforts and all the blood testing and counseling have infact prevented a much more devastating explosion internationally or in a certain local/national areas. Even without knowing precisely the impact of prevention effort on the spread of global HIV, the challenge remains in the absence of a vaccine prevention interventions will remain the key to HIV control. The information, education and communication approaches in the fight against HIV have stressed the change of behaviour in relation to sexual attitudes. Those who are sexually active are advised to adopt sexual behaviors that reduce the risk of infection. The intervention to break the chain of transmission is seen basically as a technique to physical barriers like condoms, behavioral barriers like the abstinence or partner reduction, to stop the passage of the virus from one person to another. Youths have been identified as the target of the information and education campaigns. To stop these youths from behaving sexually as they did in the past became the prime task of the prevention of all sexual transmission. Although it is true that in the end, each individual who acts sexually has to take responsibility for his/her action, it is nevertheless obvious that sexual behavior and consumption patterns are strongly influenced by gender, social, cultural and economic factors. What a given society regards as sexually right or wrong as a taboo, deviant or normal is decided by the individual actor, and not by a set of norms and values to which different gratifications and sanctions are attached. For example, in Africa the social inequality between men and women is most responsible for the spread of the virus. Women, especially youths generally lack the social power to set the terms of sexual relationships. Social isolation and lack of education limits their knowledge of prevention behavior. Young girls and women living in poverty are often enticed or coerced to trade sex for support or social promotion and maybe forced into prostitution or polygamous marriages, why inheritance and societal promotion and concentration of the male infidelity are factors which have been identified as favourable in the transmission of the virus and the AIDS disease. As a result of these factors, which centres largely on the vulnerability of a woman to HIV infection, the complete success of the prevention method a major break through is conceptual thinking has been negative. Therefore, a shift in emphasis must take place from concentration on individual behavioral change to addressing the social and cultural structure of sexual relations and the individual as part of a community and a network. In doing so, the state or community should also enhance the ability of women to control their sexual relationships. Men and women should talk openly about sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. The state or community should also encourage men to take care of themselves, their partners and families. Our society is plagued with some men who are irresponsible in every conceivable way. They have a denial syndrome and they blame everything on the woman. Our society also suffers from some promiscuous married women in the rural and urban cities, who have discriminate extra marital sex as a routine. The state or community must provide good and quality education of sexual health; HIV/AIDS and life preserving skills for youths in and out of schools.

Pioneer meeting of African youths involved in development!
This meeting took place in cameroon from march 27 to 28 2007 in the south west province. Participants came from all over africa for this two day event to delibrate on issues affecting the african youths and Prolife Aids League was a partner to the summit