Namibia court rules HIV-positive women sterilised without consent

WNN World News Portal – The Guardian News – Monday 30 July, 2012 (originally published 29 July)

The high court in Namibia has ruled in favour of three women who claimed they had been sterilised without their consent. Photograph: Ian Waldie/Getty Images

Sterilisations on three mothers carried out at same time as caesareans, but judge rejects claim that they were targeted because they were HIV-positive

In a landmark judgment for patients’ and women’s rights, the high court in Namibia on Monday ruled in favour of three women who claimed they had been sterilised without their informed consent. But the judge in the capital, Windhoek, rejected a claim that they had been targeted for sterilisation because they are HIV-positive.

The case, LM&MI&NH versus the government of the Republic of Namibia, is being watched by health rights campaigners around the world. In Africa – especially Kenya, Swaziland and South Africa – allegations have recently begun to emerge of state hospitals practising sterilisation of HIV-positive mothers.

The Namibian case, which began two years ago, was brought by the country’s legal assistance centre on behalf of three women aged between 22 and 47 who had caesarean deliveries to reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to their babies. The sterilisations were carried out at the same time as the caesareans. . .

. . . read complete article . . .

____________________________________